Marine Discovery
Ruby seadragon, WA (credit: Marine Biodiversity Records & Scripps )
We know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the oceans here on Earth. A new species of seadragon was discovered in Australian waters during environmental monitoring by California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Western Australian Museum in Perth, WA.
Seadragons are strange creatures, typically having leaf-like appendages that make for perfect camouflage when swimming among beds of kelp. The new species was observed using a robotic underwater camera during an expedition to the Recherche Archipelago marine reserve off the southern coast of Western Australia. The new seadragon, seen swimming in this chain of remote islands near the town of Esperance, lacks these unique fin-like structures.
Commenting on their discovery, one of the marine biologists said: "our research shows there are so many more discoveries to be made in Australia". WHB