Weird Creatures Found on Deep-Sea "Mountain Range"
Abundant new and rare marine species have been discovered on a deep-sea mountain range in the middle of the North Atlantic, scientists say. Exotic worms, colorful corals, unusual sea cucumbers, and a plethora of weird fish are among the creatures that scientists spotted on a recent expedition to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an underwater range that divides the North Atlantic Ocean in two At least one new species, a tiny crustacean called a seed shrimp, is likely new to science, researchers said. Another exciting find was a "spiral poo worm," an animal first identified in 2005 that deposits spiral-shaped feces, some of which have been found in the fossil record dating back hundreds of millions of years. "We found lots of these primitive species," said expedition leader Monty Priede, director of the Oceanlab research center at Britain's University of Aberdeen. The expedition brought together an international team of 31 scientists coordinated by the Norway-based MAR-ECO