The species live in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), an area considered of high interest to deep-sea mining companies due to the abundant presence of manganese nodules, which contain high-value metals. 

The Zone is about twice the size of India and has already been divided and assigned to companies for extraction purposes. However, the scientific community has been working to raise awareness of the biological diversity that could be lost should deep-sea mining operations take place in the area. 

With this goal in mind, a team of biologists has built the first ‘CCZ checklist’ by compiling all the species records from previous research expeditions to the region.

The researchers found that, according to their estimates, the species diversity of the CCZ included a total of 5,578 different species found in the region, an estimated 88 to 92 per cent of which are entirely new to science.

“We share this planet with all this amazing biodiversity and we have...