Japan and Australia hosting 500,000 species unidentified marine

Australia and Japan host more than half a million marine species not yet identified by scientists, who work piece before they disappear because of global warming.

"Australia has a tremendous ecological interest, from coral reefs to the ocean floor," said Jesse Ausubel, a researcher at the Australian study, titled "What lives in the sea."

The rich ecosystem Australian bathed by three oceans and four seas, which extends from the Tropic of coral to the South Pole ice, hosts some 250,000 unidentified species.

"This is a great diversity of habitat and oceans that have only been partially investigated," said Alan Butler, of the Organization for Scientific and Industrial Research of Australia.

Most of the 33,000 species listed by scientists in Australia were birds, seabirds and marine mammals, and new fish and sharks, which represent 20 percent of marine life to discover.

In the Great Barrier Reef in northeastern Australia, live in the greatest number of species such as corals, dolphins, sea turtles and pigs.

For its part, Katsunori Fujikura, the Agency for Technology and Earth Sciences and Sea of Japan, said oteadas 155 000 species have been in the waters of his country, a mere 30 percent of the total, only 33,000 have been officially registered .

"The cause of such diversity is undoubtedly due to the variety of natural environments found in Japanese waters," said Fujikura.

The Japanese marine environment, covering an area 11 times larger than its land mass, home to coral and marine ecosystems to 10 kilometers deep.

Due to the strong currents, only 5.6 percent of the species in Japan are unique on the island, while 19 percent of the 17,000 New Zealand marine species limit their habitat around the islands.

90 percent of marine life in Antarctica is more than a mile beneath the surface of the ocean and only 11 percent 9000, has been studied species.

"Most of the species in the Antarctic Ocean are rare. Half of the species on the seabed have been spotted only once or twice," said Huw Griffiths, a researcher at the British Antarctic Survey.

The research at the South Pole is essential to understand the process of climate change, as it is the regions most affected by global warming.

EFE | CANALCLIMA.com

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