Thousands of unknown creatures: scientists reported new discoveries in the ocean depths (3 photos)

The international Ocean Census project, which brought together more than 1,000 researchers from 85 countries, reported a record number of new marine species discovered over the past year. Scientists have discovered over 1,000 previously unknown creatures—more than half the average for previous years. One of the most unusual discoveries was a polychaete worm off the coast of Japan. It lives inside a rare glass sponge at a depth of approximately 800 meters: the organism's transparent skeleton is composed of silica and resembles a fragile "glass castle." A true symbiosis has developed between these deep-sea creatures—the worm cleans the sponge of debris and, in return, receives a safe haven.

Equally sensational was a discovery off the coast of Australia, where researchers discovered the so-called "ghost shark." This ancient relative of modern sharks and rays, according to biologists, diverged from them almost 400 million years ago.

Experts note that humanity has only explored a small fraction of ocean life. According to various estimates, up to a million species of living organisms may exist in the world's oceans, but science only knows about 10% of them. Against this backdrop, the ocean remains one of the most mysterious and poorly understood ecosystems on Earth—humans may know more about the surface of Mars than about the depths of their own planet.