Scientists find uncharted ocean ‘twilight zone’ teeming with life

London: An ocean zone nobody knew existed, which is home to more than 100 new species, has been discovered by Oxford University.

The Rariphotic Zone, or rare light zone, extends from 130 metres to 300 metres and joins five other areas that have distinct biological communities living and growing within them.

The new section was discovered during a research mission to Bermuda organised by Nekton, the British charity for ocean exploration, and led by marine research scientists from the University of Oxford.

As well as the new zone, more than 100 species were discovered including tanaids — minute crustaceans — dozens of new algae species and black wire coral that stand up to two metres high.

“Considering the Bermudian waters have been comparatively well studied for many decades, we certainly weren’t expecting such a large number and diversity of new species,” said Prof Alex Rogers, of Oxford University, and the Nekton scientific director.

“The average depth of the ocean is 4,200m,” he said. “If life in the shallower regions ... is so poorly documented it undermines confidence in our existing understanding of how the patterns of life change with depth, [this is] evidence of how little we know, and how important it is to document this unknown frontier to ensure that its future is protected.”

The group also discovered a major algal forest on the summit of an underwater mountain 25 kilometres off the coast of Bermuda. Its slopes harbour gardens of twisted wire corals and sea fans, communities of sea urchins, green moray eels, yellow hermit crabs, small pink and yellow fish and other mobile fauna.