All news

Russian, German researchers find 500 new marine species in Sea of Okhotsk

First research of the the deepest part of the Far East's Sea of Okhotsk some 60 years ago revealed only 50 species

VLADIVOSTOK, August 6. /TASS/. Members of a Russian-German deep-sea research team have found around 500 new marine species in the Far East's Sea of Okhotsk, a deputy expedition head told TASS on Thursday.

Discoveries were made as the Sea of Okhotsk Biodiversity Studies expedition was working aboard the Russian research vessel Akademik Lavrentyev from July 5 to August 6 in the Kuril Basin, the deepest part of the sea.

"Researchers collected samples and studied them onboard. We can already say the results are impressive," Marina Malyutina said. "The basin was practically unresearched."

First research of the basin some 60 years ago revealed only 50 species. "We discovered some 1,000 species, 500 of them new," Malyutina went on, adding that final results of the study would be published not earlier than a year from now.