Before you start reading, we want to give a trigger warning to those who suffer from thalassophobia: this is not your article.
Now, if you are interested in what is hidden in the seabed, join us to discover it! The ocean is like a parallel universe (a metaverse, as we would call it now) with thousands of wonders within it that go unnoticed. Every time someone dives into this blue mantle that makes our life possible, it is like opening a book we have never read, new stories, new characters and who knows, maybe even the Kraken!
Despite all the technological advances, the deep sea continues to be the subject of study for all the scientists in the community, and in a corner as emblematic of this world as Ha Long Bay (in Vietnam), scientists have found one of those hidden gems that make our interest in the sea continue to grow: A new species of marine sponge never seen before. Stay and we will tell you what we are referring to!
The discovery
The researchers were studying what the marine life of this bay in Vietnam was like on one of their dives. The animal went practically unnoticed by their side, until the divers noticed it. They observed it a little more closely and discovered that it was a species they did not know. When looking inside a tunnel they detected a large sea sponge (the study says), the divers collected eight specimens of these sponges to observe and analyse them better and then they discovered a new species that had never been seen before.
Cladocroce pansinii
Although it looks like a Pokemon name, we are referring to this sponge that is gigantic in size, reaching up to 20 centimetres (we say giant because the general size of a sea sponge does not usually exceed 5 centimetres in size).
Its colours vary from green to violet to blue, but what has really caught the attention of this discovery is its DNA, which positions it as a completely new species, in addition to the adaptive capacity it has demonstrated, being able to adapt to the underwater tunnels of the Indo-Pacific ecosystems.
A marine treasure?
Ha Long Bay is not only a tourist destination for its natural beauty; it is also an interesting point of marine biodiversity. Located about 160 kilometres east of Hanoi, this area is home to a wide variety of species that still hold many secrets to be discovered. The discovery of Cladocroce pansinii invites us to reflect on the need to protect these ecosystems and continue exploring them to better understand their role on the planet.
How many secrets are hidden under the sea? Beyond any scientific curiosity, these kinds of findings help scientists understand how some species evolve as they adapt to the maritime conditions of each place.
The seabed is home to millions of species, and it is urgent for us as human beings to protect the biodiversity of the world in which we live. Who knows what secrets are still hidden down there waiting for someone to look at them for the first time?!