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Miami Herald

‘Fragile' deep-sea creature — with 20 tentacles — discovered as new species in Pacific

Deep below the surface of the ocean in the South China Sea, a robot named 'discovery' searched the seafloor for life. Faxian, meaning discovery in Chinese, is a remote-operated vehicle submersible deployed from the research vessel Kexue, meaning science. During four surveys in the western Pacific from 2013 to 2018, the robot collected ocean specimens and brought them to the surface for examination, according to a study published March 13 in the peer-reviewed journal ZooKeys. In 2018, it discovered a new species of sea cucumber. While the robot was about 4,400 feet below the surface, a cylindrical figure appeared in the water, according to the study. It was about a foot long and 'yellowish white' in color, researchers said. As the sea cucumber became trapped in the robot's mechanical hand, researchers found its body to be 'fragile' and thinly walled, according to the study. The animal's skin was 'glass-like' and 'calcareous,' or hard and chalky, researchers said. This delicate exterior is indicative of the animal's genus, Amphigymnas, which includes species with the same fragile skin, according to the study. The species was named Amphigymnas ganquani, or the Ganquan Plateau sea cucumber, researchers said. The sea cucumber is also covered with tentacles and papillae, or fleshy protrusions, according to the study. The animal has 20 shield-shaped tentacles and rows of paired papillae. There are more than 1,800 sea cucumber species spread out across the world's oceans, and they play a key role in their ecosystems through feeding, producing poop that spreads nutrients and their movements, according to the study. The new species was discovered as part of surveys of seamounts, or large, underwater mountains that serve as 'diversity hotspots,' researchers said, and are largely understudied in the South China Sea. Three other new sea cucumber species were identified and described in the same study. The South China Sea sits between the southern coast of China, the eastern coast of Vietnam and the western coast of the Philippines. Control of the South China Sea is highly disputed. The research team includes Yunlu Xiao and Ning Xiao.