New sea animals waiting to be discovered (From Your Local Guardian)

New sea animals waiting to be discovered, Egham scientists say

4:23pm Tuesday 24th March 2009 in Staines By Lucy Buckland

Unknown sea creatures are waiting to be discovered - according to Egham scientists.

Sea experts at Royal Holloway University have unearthed three new mammals could lurk underwater across the globe.

In a paper published in Historical Biology a team of scientists, led by Michael Woodley from the School of Biological Sciences at Royal Holloway, concluded three new unusual species might await discovery all of which may belong to the group of marine mammals known as pinnipeds. The best known pinnipeds are seals, sea lions and walruses.

Mr Woodley said: “While the low number of three possible new pinniped species matched our statistical expectations, there is a need for scepticism as all known pinnipeds are noisy animals with close ties to land. These pinnipeds would have to possess some exceptional characteristics, if they exist.”

The researchers used a combination of statistical analysis and eyewitness reports to evaluate the existence of unknown large sea animals.

According to the researchers, the discovery of several large marine animals during the last 30 years demonstrates that there are sea mammals in existence which have so far remained undiscovered.

Examples of these animals include the Lesser or Peruvian beaked whale, a strikingly marked whale from the eastern Pacific, which was discovered in 1975 and the Megamouth, a giant, filter-feeding shark known from tropical seas worldwide, discovered in 1976.

The Indonesian coelacanth, a deep-sea fish with a striking metallic sheen, was discovered in 1998.

Omura's whale, a close relative of the gigantic blue whale, was only discovered in the late 1970s.

• What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.