The newly described species are all amphipods, a diverse group of crustaceans. The shrimp-like creatures, most about a centimeter long, or less than half an inch, have evolved in the deep sea, some 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) below the surface, over millions of years.<\/p>\n
Among the finds was a completely new superfamily, Mirabestioidea, and a new family, Mirabestiidae, representing previously unknown evolutionary lineages.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you imagine that on planet Earth, we know about carnivorous mammals, we know that bears exist and we know that the families of cats exist, it would be like finding dogs,\u201d Tammy Horton, a researcher at the U.K.\u2019s National Oceanography Centre and co-lead of the study, told Inside Climate News<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scientists collected the specimens by extracting large cubes of mud from the seabed, known as box cores, and hauling them up to a research ship. After washing and sieving the cores, researchers found a variety of amphipods nestled among the mud and metallic nodules.<\/p>\n During a weeklong taxonomy workshop at the University of \u0141\u00f3d\u017a in Poland, 16 scientists collaborated to describe the new species at a pace that would have been impossible working alone. The effort is part of the International Seabed Authority\u2019s \u201cOne Thousand Reasons\u201d project, which aims to formally describe 1,000 new deep-sea species by 2030.<\/p>\n Horton named a species in the new superfamily, Mirabestia maisie, after her daughter. Another species, Lepidepecreum myla, was named for a character in the video game Hollow Knight, because both \u201care just little arthropods trying to survive in total darkness,\u201d Horton said in a press release.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s estimated there are around 5,600 species in the CCZ, but around 90% of these are undescribed,\u201d Eva Stewart, a deep-sea scientist at the U.K.\u2019s Natural History Museum who contributed to the research, said in an article<\/a> published by the museum.<\/p>\n Anna Ja\u017cd\u017cewska, a professor at the University of \u0141\u00f3d\u017a and co-lead of the study, told Inside Climate News that formally naming species gives them a \u201cpassport for living,\u201d allowing people and policymakers to recognize them as living entities worth protecting.<\/p>\n At the current pace, researchers say the amphipod fauna of the eastern CCZ could be nearly fully cataloged within a decade \u2014 if the seabed is still intact by then. However, closing that knowledge gap has gained greater urgency as pressure grows to mine the seabed.<\/p>\n The CCZ is studded with metallic nodules, potato-sized chunks of fused nickel, cobalt, copper and other minerals, many of which are prized for their use in the production of batteries and green energy technologies. That makes the CCZ one of the most commercially coveted tracts of ocean on Earth.<\/p>\n In January, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) finalized a rule<\/a> allowing companies to apply simultaneously for exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits, streamlining what had been a two-step sequential process. The old two-step process required companies to first obtain an exploration license, conduct exploration (which includes scientific research and environmental data collection), and only then separately apply for a commercial recovery permit. The new consolidated process lets companies apply for both at the same time.<\/p>\n The Metals Company, a Canadian mining firm, has since filed<\/a> a new consolidated application covering roughly 65,000 km2 (25,000 mi2) of the CCZ \u2014 an area about twice the size of Belgium. In March, NOAA determined<\/a> that TMC\u2019s application met regulatory filing requirements and could proceed to full review.<\/p>\n Mining could have an ecological cost. A study<\/a> published in December 2025 found that within the tracks left by a commercial mining machine during large-scale tests in the CCZ in 2022, the number of animals dropped by 37% and the number of species fell by 32%.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve just done 24 [species],\u201d Horton told Inside Climate News, \u201cand that is a drop in the ocean, literally, of how many more we have to describe.\u201d<\/p>\n Banner image: Image Collage of the 24 new\u00a0Amphipod\u00a0species identified in Clarion-Clipperton Zone, CC BY,\u00a0 National Oceanography Centre, Southampton<\/p>\n Deep-sea mining rules face delays despite urgent push<\/a><\/p>\n Citations: <\/p>\n Ja\u017cd\u017cewska,\u00a0A.\u00a0M., & Horton,\u00a0T. (2026). New deep-sea amphipoda from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone: 24 new species described under the sustainable seabed knowledge initiative: One Thousand Reasons campaign.\u00a0ZooKeys,\u00a01274, 1-16. doi:10.3897\/zookeys.1274.176711<\/a><\/p>\n Stewart, E. C., Wiklund, H., Neal, L., Bribiesca-Contreras, G., Drennan, R., Boolukos, C. M., \u2026 Glover, A. G. (2025). Impacts of an industrial deep-sea mining trial on macrofaunal biodiversity.\u00a0Nature Ecology & Evolution,\u00a010(2), 318-329. doi:10.1038\/s41559-025-02911-4<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/CCZ-1.png\")
Collage of the 24 new Amphipod species identified in Clarion-Clipperton Zone, CC BY, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Image-2-1.jpg\")
Participants of the taxonomic workshop at University of Lodz in 2024 who named the new amphipod species. CC BY, Anna Ja\u017cd\u017cewska<\/p>\n
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