They found 12 new sea creatures deep in …

Twelve new species animals have been found in the depths of the North Atlantic after five years of studies carried out by the ATLAS project, funded by the European Union.

It is algae, molluscs and corals who until now were unknown to the scientific community because the seabed remains largely unexplored. These species could be threatened by climate change, in particular due to the acidification resulting from the greater absorption of CO2 by the ocean.

During the study, scientists also came across a field of thermal emissions on the seabed of the Azores Islands. Hydrothermal vents are important areas of relatively high biological productivity that host complex communities in the midst of the vast deep ocean.

“Again we can say that we have better maps of the surface of the Moon and Mars than of the seabed. So every time you go to the depths of the ocean you find something new, not just individual species, but entire ecosystems, ”said George Wolff, ocean chemist at the University of Liverpool and fellow of the ATLAS project.

Meanwhile, Professor Murray Roberts of the University of Edinburgh, who led the project, told BBC News that nearly five years of exploration and research have revealed “special places” in the ocean and discovered “how they work”.

“There are entire communities of deep sea sponges or corals that form deep sea cities. They are the sustenance of life. The really important fish therefore use these places as spawning grounds, ”he explained.

He also warned that if these communities are damaged by destructive human uses, the fish have nowhere to spawn and the function of all of these ecosystems is lost for future generations.

he ATLAS project, which brings together researchers from 13 Atlantic countries, combines the study of chemistry and physics of the oceansas well as biological discovery, to find out how the ocean environment is changing as the world warms and humans increasingly exploit deep waters for fishing and mining.

The currents slow down

The study of ocean currents and fossil deposits on the seabed has revealed that the major currents in the North Atlantic have slowed considerably in response to climate change.

These ocean currents are the routes that connect different habitats across the vastness of the ocean depths. Regarding the reasons for its slowdown, Prof Roberts said: “The implications of this are complicated, but potentially the connections between ecosystems are shrinking.”