Flat-faced frog-fish among new species

SYDNEY - A flat-faced frogfish with a psychedelic pattern and a "killer" carnivorous sponge are among the top 10 new species discovered in 2009, according to a committee of international scientists.

The list of newly described or named species is compiled every year by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and an international committee of taxonomists - scientists responsible for species exploration and classification.

Also in the top 10 were a freshwater minnow with fangs found in Myanmar, the first new golden orb spider found since 1879, a deep-sea worm that releases green luminescent "bombs" when threatened, and a sea slug that eats insects which was found in the Gulf of Thailand.