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Scientists discovered 71 new species this year... including creepy 'goblin spider'
18 December 2019, 15:49
Bad news for those who aren't a fan of spiders as there's a bunch of new critters that have recently been discovered.
Endless amount of new creatures have been discovered by scientists in 2019, including different kids of spiders, ants, fish and sea slugs.
A team of researchers at the California Academy of Sciences uncovered a whopping 71 new species after scouring the globe to find them.
From Mediterranean ants to terrifying-sounding 'goblin spiders', sea slugs, flowering plants and a new kind of coral - there's a lot of brand new species nobody will have ever heard of before in their new discovery.
The grand total of discoveries by the scientists were 17 fish, 15 geckos, eight flowering plants, six sea slugs, five arachnids, four eels, three ants, three skinks, two skates, two wasps, two mosses, two corals, and two lizards - found across five continents and three oceans.
Researchers made the incredible finds by “venturing into Croatian caves, diving to extreme ocean depths, and surveying savanna forests,'' said the American academy in a statement.
There was also a bright purple fish which has been named the Cirrhilabrus wakanda -- a nod to the Marvel comic and hit movie, Black Panther.
The colorful species is found in “Twilight Zone” reefs in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania, about 260 feet below the surface.
“When we thought about the secretive and isolated nature of these unexplored African reefs, we knew we had to name this new species after Wakanda," Yi-Kai Tea, lead author of the study, told CNN.
“Despite decades of tirelessly scouring some of the most familiar and remote places on Earth, biodiversity scientists estimate that more than 90% of nature’s species remain unknown,” Shannon Bennett, PhD, and Academy Chief of Science, said.
“Each newly discovered species serves as an important reminder of the critical role we play in better understanding and preserving these precious ecosystems.”
