Since the Census began in 2000, researchers have added an average of 1,650 species annually to the list of known marine species.

First Census of Marine Life Shows Ocean Life Is Richer, More Connected, More Altered Than Expected

ScienceDaily (Oct. 5, 2010) — After a decade of joint work and scientific adventure, marine explorers from more than 80 countries delivered a historic first global Census of Marine Life.

In one of the largest scientific collaborations ever conducted, more than 2,700 Census scientists spent over 9,000 days at sea on more than 540 expeditions, plus countless days in labs and archives.

Released Oct. 4 are maps, three landmark books, and a highlights summary that crown a decade of discovery.

The now-completed documentation in books and journals, plus the accumulating databases and established websites, videos, and photo galleries report and conclude the first Census. Over the decade more than 2,600 academic papers were published -- one, on average, every 1.5 days.

Presented is an unprecedented picture of the diversity, distribution, and abundance of all kinds of marine life in Planet Ocean -- from microbes to whales, from the icy poles to the warm tropics, from tidal near shores to the deepest dark depths.

Oceanic diversity is demonstrated by nearly 30 million observations of 120,000 species organized in the global marine life database of the Census, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). The migrations tracked across seas and up and down in the water column, plus the revealed ubiquities of many species, demonstrate connections among oceans. Comparisons of the present ocean with the bountiful ocean life portrayed in old archives document changes. The Census established declines -- and some recoveries -- of marine abundance.

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Pandeopesis ikarii -- a species of zooplankton found on the
Inner Space Speciation Project to the Celebes Sea, October 2007
(Credit: Russ Hopcroft -- University of Alaska Fairbanks & Census of Marine Life)

National Geographic wrote:600-Year-Old Worms Among Surprises of 10-Year Sea Survey
Ten-year Census of Marine Life uncovered thousands of likely new species.
Helen Scales in London
for National Geographic News
Published October 4, 2010

Uncovering thousands of likely new species, and sending thousands of scientists on hundreds of expeditions from pole to pole, the ten-year Census of Marine Life, which ended Monday, can seem as overwhelming as the ocean itself.

But a look at just five of the census's great discoveries gives a sense as to just how much the ten-year ocean inventory accomplished—and how much remains unknown.

(Related: our picks of the 13 best Census of Marine Life pictures.)

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1. SIX-HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD TUBE WORMS

Inhabitants of the perpetual dark of the deep sea, yard-long (meter-long) tube worms called Escarpia laminata were found by the Census of Marine life to live for around 600 years—making them some of the oldest known animals on Earth.

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2. BUGS RULE THE WAVES

Ninety percent of the living biomass in the oceans is made up of hard-to-see microbes, together weighing the equivalent of 35 elephants for every living human—another fact uncovered by the Census of Marine Life.

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3. BIG BLUE EQUALS BIG UNKNOWN

Even after 540 Census of Marine Life expeditions to countless corners of the Earth, more than 20 percent of the oceans remain totally unexplored, organizers say.

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4. MANHATTAN-SIZE FISH SCHOOL

Tens of millions of Atlantic herring have been tracked in the Gulf of Maine (map) forming a school the size of Manhattan (map) during the Census of Marine Life. The schools sometimes contained more than eight of the roughly foot-long (30-centimeter-long) fish per square yard (0.8 square meter).

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5. "DOLLHOUSES" REVEAL CORAL DIVERSITY

Looking like empty dollhouses, Automated Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS)—developed for the Census of Marine Life—allow scientists to accurately compare the coral reef diversity in different regions for the first time.

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