In a remarkable deep-sea breakthrough, an international team of researchers has discovered 24 previously unknown species of amphipods in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone — a vast, six-million-square-kilometer stretch of Pacific Ocean floor between Hawaii and Mexico.
Among the findings, published March 24 in the journal ZooKeys, is something especially rare: an entirely new superfamily, Mirabestioidea, representing a brand-new branch on the evolutionary tree. The discovery also includes a new family (Mirabestiidae) and two new genera, Mirabestia and Pseudolepechinella.
"To find a new superfamily is incredibly exciting, and very rarely happens, so this is a discovery we will all remember," said Dr. Tammy Horton of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, who co-led the project.
A Region We Barely Know
The Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) remains one of the least understood ecosystems on Earth. Scientists estimate that more than 90 percent of species living there have never been formally named or described. Every expedition to the region yields surprises, and this latest effort was no exception.
The project brought together 16 specialists and early-career researchers for a week-long taxonomy workshop at the University of Lodz in Poland. Working with specimens collected from the CCZ, the team painstakingly classified each new species — identifying predators, scavengers, and organisms living at some of the deepest recorded depths for their genera.
Names That Tell Stories
Each newly discovered species requires a scientific name, and the researchers drew inspiration from personal connections and even popular culture. Co-leads Dr. Horton and Dr. Anna Jażdżewska were both honored with species named after them: Byblis hortonae and Thrombasia ania. Dr. Horton also named one species in the new superfamily — Mirabestia maisie — after her daughter.
Why This Matters
The work contributes to the International Seabed Authority's Sustainable Seabed Knowledge Initiative and its "One Thousand Reasons" project, which aims to formally describe 1,000 new species by the end of the decade. At the current pace of roughly 25 new species per year, amphipods in the eastern CCZ could be nearly fully cataloged within the next decade.
"This was a truly collaborative process that allowed us to achieve the ambitious goal of describing more than 20 species new to science within a year — something that would not have been possible if each of us worked independently," said Dr. Jażdżewska.
The findings underscore how much life remains to be discovered in Earth's deepest waters — and how coordinated scientific effort can accelerate that discovery in remarkable ways.
