Newly discovered marine creatures get names

By Xie Chuanjiao in Qingdao, Shandong| (chinadaily.com.cn)| Updated : 2020-08-10

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This purple marine creature, 33 cm high, was discovered at a depth of 1,549 meters in the Caroline Seamount of the western Pacific Ocean in 2019. It was named Victorgorgiaiocasica by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Five new species of marine creatures were named by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Saturday.

The naming ceremony coincided with the 70th anniversary of the institute.

All the species were found at ocean depths of around 1,000 meters in the western Pacific Ocean by researchers from the institute.

From January 2009 to March this year, the institute has listed two families, two subfamilies, 17 novel genera and 276 novel species.

The institute was founded in 1950 as the first ocean research institute after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

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These hairy ocean creatures are six or seven cm long. They were discovered at nearly 1,000 meters in the deep ocean in 2019. The species was named Laetmoniceiocasica by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

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A 12-cm-long sea slug with a pink head feeds on red coral. It was named Tritoniaiocasica by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

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This marine creature is about 18 cm long and has six or seven spines. The species was found about 1,300 meters under the sea in the Caroline and Magellan Seamounts in 2017 and 2018. It was named Sternostylusiocasicus by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

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These marine creatures are 450 cm tall, with a top that consists of mushroom-like sponge. The species was found at around 1,000 meters deep in the Caroline Seamount in 2017 and 2019. It was named Caulophacusiocasicussp by the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]