Kermadec islands’ marine discoveries

This video is called New Zealand’s remote Kermadec Islands reveal underwater secrets.

From Wildlife Extra:

Voyage of discovery: Kermadecs expedition finds several new species

‘Every dive holds the possibility of seeing new creatures’

May 2011: New Zealand’s largest scientific expedition ever to explore the inshore coastal waters of the Kermadecs, has been discovering several new species.

Auckland Museum marine curator Dr Tom Trnski says he believes two of the species collected on the expedition to date are probably new to science while a handful of animals are brand new records for New Zealand.

‘We have almost certainly already collected new species but we just don’t know it yet,’ he said.

‘The other night we found an eel that none of the fish experts on the boat can identify – so it could possibly be a new species but we won’t know that until we get back from the expedition and can send it to an eel expert to confirm its identity.

Several species new to New Zealand

‘Every dive we make has the possibility of finding creatures new to the Kermadecs, new to New Zealand and even new to science.

‘We have two species that I’m pretty confident are new to science – a little left-eye flounder and a pipe fish.

‘We suspect the flounder doesn’t grow very big as the largest one we have collected is just 10cm long. Probably the most exciting find is the pipe fish – again it’s small, 10cm long, with a white body with striking orange spots. Pipe fish are related to sea horses, and are really just like a sea horse that has been straightened out.’

The new species records for New Zealand include a shark, a zebra lionfish, a tropical banded eel, a blackspot sergeant and a tropical goatfish. Final confirmation of these species records won’t be made until after the expedition return at the end of this month.

Yellow saddle goatfish work together to catch their dinner, according to scientists: here.