An expedition remembered for broadcasting images of a starfish resembling Patrick from SpongeBob has produced a substantial scientific result: 57 new species and five new genera. The animals were collected off Argentina in August 2025 using SuBastian, a remotely operated vehicle deployed from the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor (too). An international team subsequently gathered at Universidad Maimónides in Buenos Aires, where the discoveries were identified during a two-week taxonomy workshop.
The findings comprise 22 echinoderm species, including sea cucumbers and crinoids; 20 copepod species, a group of crustaceans; 14 cnidarians, including several types of coral; and one mollusc, a tusk shell. Some corals, sea cucumbers and crustaceans also warranted classification within new genera, the taxonomic rank above species. Every copepod examined during the workshop was new to science. Another discovery was a sea cucumber nicknamed Loki, whose horn-like appendages resemble the Norse god’s hat. It belongs to the genus Peniagone.
Most specimens came from Mar del Plata Canyon, one of Argentina’s largest deep-sea rifts, which descends beyond 3,500 metres. There, the warm, salty Brazil current meets the cold, nutrient-rich Malvinas current, creating one of the ocean’s most energetic regions. The expedition contributed to Ocean Census’s effort to document deep-sea biodiversity before potential disruption from climate change and seabed mining. According to Schmidt Ocean Institute director Jyotika Virmani, the identifications advance understanding of South Atlantic marine life, while Ocean Census makes the resulting data accessible worldwide.
