5 Unique Sea Creatures In Philippine Waters Were Discovered This 2019
UNIQUE SEA CREATURES – The Philippines is one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth. It holds so many treasures that are part of our culture and heritage.
This 2019, there were five new species of sea creatures from the waters of the Philippines that have been officially recorded by the California Academy of Sciences. These are among the 71 new ones found around the globe.
Cal Academy is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco. Their institution found the new species to consist of damselfishes and two sea slugs.
According to an article from GoodNewsPilipinas, it was a group of academy scientists and international collaborators who contributed to the discovery of these species.
Since 2005, the Philippines had been placed in the world’s ecological map by marine scientists and conservationists. The country was dubbed as the Verde Island Passage and was held as the “Center of Marine Biodiversity in the World”.
This was because the Country’s waters held the highest concentration of species per unit area. Because of this, science researchers began to flock to the Country to conduct their studies.
Among them are the researchers from the California Academy of Sciences. They have been collaborating with local scientists on their research of the new species.
With this, here are the 5 new marine species discovered by Cal Academy.
Chromis gunting (Scissors chromis or dragfish)
This was named after the pattern on its tail that resembles a pair of scissors (gunting in Filipino). Marine biologist describe this fish as shorter than a crayon.
Chromis hangganan (Dark margin chromis)
This was named after the Filipino word for border (Hangganan). It is also about the size of a standard pool ball.
Chromis bowesi (Rhomboid chromis)
This fish is about as long as an ATM card. It’s named after the late philanthropist William K. Bowes Jr., which was the main sponsor for the Hope for Reefs Initiative.
Janolus flavoannulata
This sea slug is a colorful and stunning nudibranch. Although 1/4 of the known sea slug species was discovered by Dr. Terry Gosliner, he still gets amazed by the new species found.
Janolus tricellarioides
This was the first new species Dr. Gosliner collected since he started researching the marine biodiversity in 1992. Because of this, the Janolus Tricellarioidies holds a special place in his heart.
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