Tuesday May 19, 2026
CNN —
Deep in the ocean is a worm that makes its home inside a “glass castle,” a mysterious “ghost shark” and a carnivorous “death ball” sponge.
These are just three of the 1,121 “previously unknown” species discovered in the world’s oceans over the last year, announced Tuesday by the Ocean Census, a global effort to map marine life involving more than 1,000 researchers across 85 countries.
It marks a 54% increase in annual identifications, according to the three-year-old organization, led by Japan’s Nippon Foundation and Nekton, a UK ocean exploration institute.
The ocean is one of the planet’s least known ecosystems, especially the deep sea. Once it was assumed little life could thrive in its extreme environments, but over recent years, scientists have discovered ecosystems brimming with unusual – and sometimes utterly bizarre – species.
Underwater life faces immense challenges from climate change, as oceans warm, and from human activities, including pollution from industry and agriculture. The quest to mine the ocean for its minerals, which appears to be moving further toward reality, presents another huge risk.