Science News - October 23, 2010

JAWS Sharp teeth protrude even from the tongue of this dragonfish. As environmental scientist and census participant Paul Waggoner describes members of the species shown here, “they would be terrifying animals if they weren’t the size of a banana.” though invertebrate species overwhelm vertebrate species in census tallies, dividing the organisms into smaller groups offers a different perspective. Fish rank third in numbers of known species, after crustaceans and mollusks. Fish account for about 12 percent of known marine organisms, not a huge chunk but still a dozen times the proportion of sea squirts and other tunicates. JULian finn, MUSeUM vic Toria

A StAr SurvEy Because of the census’s accomplishments, today biologists can easily find records of the brittle star Asteronyx loveni living in european waters, off the coast of South africa and off new Zealand. There’s a greater sense of what lives where in the oceans now. a study done in 1995 by the national research council found that hardly any nation could list the species living off its shores. Today a database created by the census allows any nation, or anybody doodling around on the Web, to enumerate some of the local wonders of the seas. © JaMSTec