In a bustling workshop room in Senckenberg am meer, the air hums with the soft excitement of species discovery. Here, early-career researchers from across the world, as well as mid-career to retired experts, have gathered for a species discovery workshop, united by a shared fascination of isopods.

Building on the success of our co-founder Nekton’s First Descent: Comoros 2025 mission, this Species Discovery Workshop took place at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) in Makhanda from January 26 to February 13, 2026.

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.

The SSI Southern Ocean Species Discovery Workshop will bring an international team of taxonomists to Chile to analyse samples from two Ocean Census expeditions to Antarctica and the South Sandwich Islands

The workshop brought together taxonomic specialists from across the world to work on these rare samples, including specimens that may not have been investigated otherwise.

The Indian Ocean Species Discovery Workshop (2025) unites global marine scientists to analyse sponges and octocorals from Nekton mission samples.

This species discovery workshop will allow us to uncover potential new species from the Nazca Ridge expedition.

Deep-sea exploration and the discovery of new species, along with chemosynthetic ecosystems, represent an exciting frontier in marine biology.

During the Nazca Ridge expedition, scientists from the Ocean Census Science Network collaborated with the Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) team to identify 20 potentially new marine species.