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Weird and wonderful finds on Aussie reefs
Among the species found are a ctenophore or comb jellyfish (above), a white-topped coral crab, a green-banded snapping shrimp, Pohls sea urchins, and sabellids or fan worms, all from the Lizard and Heron islands off the Great Barrier Reef. -- PHOTOS: ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS
SYDNEY: Marine scientists said they have discovered hundreds of new animal species on reefs in Australian waters, including brilliant soft corals and tiny crustaceans.
The creatures were found during expeditions run by the Australian chapter of CReefs, a global census of coral reefs that is one of several projects of the Census of Marine Life, an international effort to catalogue all life in the oceans.
Among the creatures discovered were about 130 soft corals - also known as octocorals, for the eight tentacles that fringe each polyp - that have never been described in scientific literature, and scores of other crustaceans that have never been catalogued, including tiny shrimp-like animals with claws longer than their bodies.
'People have been working at these places for a long time and still there are literally hundreds and hundreds of new species that no one has ever collected or described,' said Mr Julian Caley, a scientist from the Australian Institute of Marine Science who is helping to lead the research.
The Australian researchers conducted three expeditions, one each in the waters off the Great Barrier Reef's Lizard and Heron islands, and one in the Ningaloo Reef, on Australia's north-west coast.
The project marks the first time any group has made a concerted effort to understand the biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef, said Professor Ron Johnstone, a marine science professor at the University of Queensland.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
