31 New Species Discovered in Two Weeks of Deep Sea Exploration

17 July 2026

An international team discovered over two dozen new marine species on a recent expedition off the coast of Brazil in the tropical South Atlantic Ocean.

The science team documented this larval fish at a depth of 966 meters during a dive with the remotely operated vehicle SuBastian. Dr. Marcelo Melo of the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo in Brazil specializes in the taxonomy and evolution of deep-sea fishes; he will try to match this baby form with the adult form the animal will eventually grow into.
Credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — The science team documented this larval fish at a depth of 966 meters during a dive with the remotely operated vehicle SuBastian.
Credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The scientists used advanced technologies to explore the Ocean’s midwater — the water between the sunlit layer and the seafloor — which is Earth’s largest and least explored habitable ecosystem. It can take scientists decades to identify and describe new species, but the combination of technology and expertise enabled the team to confirm these species as new within a matter of days.

Dr. Silvina Botta (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande in Brazil) retrieves water samples from ROV SuBastian for stable isotope analysis — a chemical way to study how carbon moves through the ocean. Expedition researchers also collected biological samples, which were used for genetic sequencing and contributed to the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, allowing scientists from anywhere to study them further. Credit: Alex Ingle / Schmidt Ocean Institute CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

“The largest habitat on Earth, the midwater, is filled with incredible animals we are only just starting to understand,” said the expedition’s chief scientist, Dr. Karen Osborn of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. “I continue to be fascinated by the fantastic variety of solutions they have evolved to survive in this formidable environment, and that drives me to keep asking questions about our ocean.”

A female octopus (Haliphron atlanticus) consumes a jellyfish at 800 meters depth. This large pelagic octopus (her mantle is 40 to 50 cm long) spends her entire life in the open ocean. Males of this species only grow to 30 centimeters (approximately 12 inches). Females can grow up to four meters (13 feet) and weigh 75 kilograms (165 pounds). This species is rarely seen alive, and most of what is known about it has been determined from specimens caught in trawl nets.
Credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The team witnessed far more diversity and abundance of midwater organisms than they expected, said Osborn, including glass squid and a pelagic octopus feeding on a bright red jellyfish.

The technologies used to identify new species were a combination of imaging systems and genetic analyses.

Many midwater animals are gelatinous, with soft, delicate bodies that are often damaged by traditional sampling methods. To address this challenge, the expedition used additional technologies that allowed scientists to observe animals in a controlled environment that mimics their natural habitat.

This is a new species from the genus Tomopteris, commonly known as gossamer worms. Tomopterids spend their entire lives in the water column, living just below the surface to over 4000 meters. Little is known about their lives despite prior studies of their unusual, brilliant yellow bioluminescence. The expedition science team tested new technology that provides scientists with new, non-invasive ways to study these remarkable animals.
Credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The team used another microscope developed at Stanford University to gain critical new insights into the physiology of midwater animals. They achieved a first for research at sea and imaged living internal cellular structures in 3D. One of the organisms imaged was a large single-celled microbe called a protist. The microscope enabled the scientists to observe how the protist’s cellular structure interacted with its glass skeleton.

This juvenile glass squid, collected by ROV SuBastian at 779 meters depth in the South Atlantic, was photographed on R/V Falkor (too) using a prototype multiview macro camera system developed through a collaboration between the Dr. Jan Hemmi (University of Western Australia, the Bioinspiration Lab at MBARI and Dr. Karen Osborn (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History). The system allows scientists on the ship to quickly document the finest details of an animal from three directions at once. This data gathering reduces the disturbance to the animal and captures anatomical, color and posture details that are lost within minutes to hours once the animal is collected.

Credit: Emily Clark / MBARI via Schmidt Ocean Institute — This juvenile glass squid, collected by ROV SuBastian at 779 meters depth in the South Atlantic, was photographed on R/V Falkor (too) using a prototype multiview macro camera system developed through a collaboration between the Dr. Jan Hemmi (University of Western Australia, the Bioinspiration Lab at MBARI and Dr. Karen Osborn (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History). The system allows scientists on the ship to quickly document the finest details of an animal from three directions at once. This data gathering reduces the disturbance to the animal and captures anatomical, color and posture details that are lost within minutes to hours once the animal is collected. Credit: Emily Clark / MBARI via Schmidt Ocean Institute CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

“This opens a new door for researching deep-sea physiology, linking cellular architectures to organism function. We can now witness live internal processes within these extreme organisms adapted to withstand immense pressure and darkness,” said Dr. Manu Prakash of Stanford University.

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