clipped from: news.bbc.co.uk 
A 10-year international project to map life in the oceans marks the end of one of its most productive years.
Scientists with the Census of Marine Life (CoML) have catalogued creatures from giant mammals to tiny parasites.
This anemone crab with its striped eye stalks was spotted in Hawaii.
(Image: A Collins/NOAA/ NWHIMNM)
Among the tiny creatures studied was Cavolinia uncinata, a marine "wing-footed" snail 10mm long.
These feed by making large feeding nets or bubbles to which food sticks as they sink through the water. They then suck in the net along with the food.
(Image: Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska Fairbanks)
The growing sophistication of remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) enables more samples to be collected and brought back in better condition than ever before.
CoML researchers captured specimens of about 80,000 species along the mid-Atlantic ridge, including this squid which appears to chew its prey.
(Image: MAR-ECO/R Young)
Uninvited guest Enlarge this from the microscopic level to the big screen and you have something out of the Alien movies. This Phronima parasite is sticking its head out of its house, the hollowed out living body of a salp, where it will eventually lay its eggs and raise its family. (Image: Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska Fairbanks) |
Big nipper On Madagascar, scientists found this rock lobster which may be the world's largest at 50cm long. But the aura of bounty may be misleading. "CoML studies show steep declines of most wild marine animals that people eat," says Dr Fred Grassle, CoML steering committee chair. (Image: J Groenevelt, Marine and Coastal Management, South Africa) |
"The mantra for CoML is that we have the known, the unknown and the unknowable," says Paul Tyler.
This eel larva with its transparent body is now in the realm of the known. "As a result of CoML we know that ocean life covers more of the Earth and is much more diverse than we thought."