Hundreds of 'alien-like' creatures discovered in Great Australian Bight
More than 400 new species of invertebrate sea creatures have been discovered in the Great Australian Bight.
The Great Australian Bight Research Program conducted six “large-scale” surveys of Australia’s southern coastline between 2013 to 2017 from 200 to 5000 metres depth.
A total of 66,721 invertebrate specimens were collected and of that 401 were found to be “new to science”.
The findings were published in Marine Biodiversity Records.
Of the creatures found there were a number of black or thorny corals, Annelida – which are a type of worm, cephalopods (species including octopi and squids), and crustaceans.
Dr Hugh Macintosh, the paper’s lead author, told the ABC creatures found in deep waters are often “wonderful” and “alien” in appearance.
He added his research is in clams, which normally feast on plankton.
“But there isn’t a lot down there, so there are carnivorous clams that lie in wait to eat things that wander past them,” Dr Macintosh told the ABC.
He hopes the research will shed light ahead of planned oil drilling in the area.
Fears oil drilling in the Bight could be an environmental disaster
Norwegian oil company Equinor is currently preparing an environmental impact statement on its proposal to drill exploration wells in the Bight as part of the approval process.
That’s expected to be released for community consultation early next year.
But Greenpeace says the company’s draft Oil Pollution Emergency Plan should be the “final nail in the coffin” for drilling in the Bight.
“Not only does it show that oil could drench a previously unimaginable area that would include iconic beaches such as Bondi and Manly, it also shows that oil companies have no plan for stopping such a leak should it occur,” senior campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said in a statement earlier this month.
“The fact that we could see one litre of oil for every square metre of beach as far away from the site as Sydney should convince any politician in Canberra to block these plans.”
With AAP
