Professor Henrik Larsson of Stockholm University, who was not involved in the expedition, called the findings extraordinary. "Each of these species has evolved independently to solve problems that would defeat most surface organisms," he said. "The biodiversity at these depths is far greater than we assumed."
The timing of the discovery is significant. International negotiations over deep-sea mining rights are currently underway at the United Nations, and conservationists have argued that far too little is known about deep-ocean ecosystems to permit large-scale mineral extraction.
Dr. Osei was unequivocal on this point. "We have barely begun to understand what lives in the deep ocean," she said. "To mine these environments before we even know what is there would be an act of extraordinary recklessness."
The full findings of the expedition will be published in a series of papers in Nature over the coming months. Meanwhile, the Calypso III is already being prepared for its next dive, this time to an unexplored section of the Tonga Trench in the southwestern Pacific.