Ocean Census Discovers Over 800 New Marine Species
- The Earth & I Editorial Team
- 20h
- 2 min read
Include Sharks, Bamboo Corals, Sponges, Shrimp, Crabs, Sea Spiders, Brittle Stars
The Ocean Census, founded by the Nippon Foundation and Nekton, seeks to add to the list of known marine species. In a September 2025 press release, the group announced that they had identified over 800 previously unknown marine species since their first expedition in November 2023.
Highlights:
An estimated 1 million to 2 million marine species live in the ocean. Before 2023, around 240,000 marine species had been discovered and named.
The Ocean Census has now registered 866 new species to the Ocean Census Biodiversity Data Platform, which is accessible to both researchers and the public.
The new species include types of shark, bamboo coral, sponge, shrimp, crab, sea spiders, and brittle stars—spanning dozens of taxonomic groups.
Identifying and officially registering a new species can take up to 13.5 years, but the group says it has increased “global, annual marine discovery rates by 38%.”
Besides relying on expedition divers, the Ocean Census collaborators use Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), high-resolution imaging, environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling, and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to identify new species at depths of 1 meter to 4,990 meters.
The organization also offers Discovery Workshops and Ocean Census Species Discovery Awards of up to $20,000 to support “outstanding taxonomists and community scientists involved in marine species discovery.”
More than 800 scientists from over 400 institutions across the globe collaborated on the census.
Future plans include scaling and speeding up species discovery through partnering with more marine research institutes, as well as “unlocking Legacy Collections” that include over 175,000 undocumented species “within museums and institutes.”
We are laying the groundwork to make large-scale species discovery a reality, but our impact will ultimately be determined by how this knowledge is used to support marine protection, climate adaptation, and biodiversity conservation.
Oliver Steeds, Director of the Ocean Census
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