New lobster species found in deep ocean trenches

The Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oceanology in Qingdao, Shandong province, recently catalogued 11 new species of squat lobsters in the Yap and Mariana trenches of the western Pacific Ocean.

The descriptions are included in an academic paper published online in the Linnean Society's Zoological Journal on March 12.

Seamounts are well-known for their abundant biodiversity and local concentrations of species. Hundreds of squat lobster species from seamount environments have been reported in recent years, but squat lobster fauna on the seamount groups around ocean trenches in the tropical western Pacific are still poorly known, according to the paper's abstract.

The paper said the 11 new species were determined based on specimens collected during expeditions to seamounts around the Yap Trench and Mariana Trench.

The researchers also provided DNA barcode data for three genes in support of the taxonomic status of the new species.