In 2025, the Ocean Census achieved exciting milestones in advancing the understanding and discovery of marine biodiversity.

In the spirit of the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” we’ve gathered twelve remarkable marine species whose colours, shapes, and surprising behaviors capture the wonder of the season. 

The Ocean Census is proud to celebrate the extraordinary achievement of Belgian conchologist Yves Terryn, who has discovered 67 new species of auger snails (family Terebridae) through work supported by the Ocean Census Species Discovery Awards. 

Dr. Marta Gellert is coordinating the AccTaS project, a major international effort to advance knowledge of Tanaidacea, a diverse but under-studied order of small benthic crustaceans.

From discovering ancient Megalodon teeth on the seafloor, to watching hydrothermal vents bloom into view in one of Earth’s most remote regions, Dr. Michelle Taylor has spent her life on the edge of the unknown.

En este reportaje, hablamos con algunos de sus estudiantes sobre su investigación en esponjas, organismos a menudo ignorados pero fundamentales para los ecosistemas marinos.

In this feature, we spoke with some of Báslavi Cóndor Luján's students to learn more about their work exploring sponges, one of the ocean’s most overlooked but ecologically vital organisms.

At a glance, marine sediment might seem lifeless, just mud beneath the waves. But for James Fleming, postdoctoral researcher at JAMSTEC, that mud holds entire worlds.

Rising from the deep seafloor south of mainland Japan, the Shichiyo Seamounts, a dive site of the JAMSTEC Shinkai expedition, are part of a chain of underwater volcanoes formed by tectonic activity along the Izu–Ogasawara Arc.