Scientists have found 13,000 new species this year in a census of marine life and expected to find hundreds of thousands more in the years to come, a research group said Tuesday. The ongoing discovery of new marine species showed no signs of slowing down even in Europe and the best studied seas, the Census of Marine Life said. "We have barely skimmed the surface," said Frederick Grassle of Rutgers University, who directs the group's database used to catalogue marine life. "Humans have explored less than 5 per cent of the world's oceans, and even where we have explored, life may have been too small to see," he added. "Thus, opportunities abound to discover species and increase our knowledge of abundance and distribution." A specimen collected below 2,000 metres is about 50 times more likely to be new to science than one found at 50 metres, the group said in a press release. The database contains more than 5.2 million records mapping the distribution of 38,000 marine species, an exponential increase from 1.1 million records and 25,000 species at this time last year. --More 2350 Local Time 2050 GMT
