Most Marine Species Will Be Discovered This Century

Most Marine Species Will Be Discovered This Century

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

As many as two thirds of the species living in our oceans may still be unknown to science, say researchers, despite the fact that their calculations indicate that there are many fewer species than previously thought.

The University of Auckland researchers reckon there are actually fewer than a million marine species, of which around 226,000 have been described by science and around 72,000 more in collections awaiting description. But the rate of discovery is increasing, with an unprecedented 20,000 new marine species described in the last decade alone – and leading the researchers to suggest that most marine species will be discovered this century.