In the underwater canyons off the coast of Argentina, where the warm waters of the Brazil Current meet the cold flows of the Malvinas Current, scientists have identified 57 previously unknown marine species and five new genera. This discovery was the result of an international species identification workshop held in 2026 in Buenos Aires at the University of Maimonides.
An expedition by the Schmidt Ocean Institute aboard the vessel Falkor (too) in August 2025, using the underwater vehicle SuBastian, explored the Mar del Plata canyon at depths exceeding 3500 meters. The samples collected there, as well as materials from earlier Argentine expeditions, formed the basis of the work of twenty taxonomists from Latin America and Europe. Among the finds are twenty new species of copepods, twenty-two echinoderms, fourteen cnidarians and one scaphopod mollusk.
Particular attention was drawn to the sea cucumber Peniagone sp., nicknamed "Loki" for its horn-like outgrowths reminiscent of the image of the Norse deity. This species, discovered at a depth of about 2577 meters, became one of ten new holothurians described during the workshop. Such forms underscore how little-studied the deep-sea communities in the zone of current convergence are.
The discoveries are not limited to counting species. They reveal a complex network of connections in the ecosystem, where coral thickets and fields of sea pens serve as shelter for a multitude of organisms. Such structures, like living cities on the seabed, sustain the productivity of the region and may influence food chains reaching up to the ocean surface.
The workshop not only accelerated the description of new taxa but also strengthened Argentina's scientific potential: the samples were transferred to national collections, and young researchers gained practical experience. A new expedition planned for 2027 to another canyon promises to continue this work.
These finds remind us that preserving deep-sea habitats requires international cooperation and a cautious approach to any form of economic activity in the ocean.
