Overview
- The open-access ZooKeys special issue, published Tuesday, formally names 24 amphipod species from the Clarion‑Clipperton Zone in the central Pacific.
- Findings include a new superfamily (Mirabestioidea) and family (Mirabestiidae), two new genera (Mirabestia, Pseudolepechinella), deepest records for several genera, and first DNA barcodes for rare taxa.
- A 2024 week‑long workshop at the University of Lodz brought 16 specialists and early‑career researchers together, with National Oceanography Centre staff describing eight of the species alongside global partners.
- The work feeds the International Seabed Authority’s Sustainable Seabed Knowledge Initiative and its One Thousand Reasons effort, with researchers estimating that at roughly 25 species per year the eastern CCZ amphipods could be nearly cataloged within a decade.
- The CCZ spans about six million square kilometers between Hawai‘i and Mexico, remains poorly studied, and hosts tiny scavenging crustaceans whose identification through combined morphology and DNA helps guide conservation and policy decisions.