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Bubblegum corals (Paragorgia; Corallidae) form among the largest branching colonies in deep-sea environments despite lacking an axial skeleton. How these octocorals maintain structural cohesion using only sub-millimeter sclerites has remained unexplained. Here we describe Paragorgia quitinosa Sánchez & Easton n. sp., collected at 670 m depth on the Nazca Ridge (southeastern Pacific) during the Schmidt Ocean Institute RV Falkor (too) expedition FKt240708, and report the first evidence of visible chitin in octocoral tissues.

In September 2026, a group of global marine taxonomists will come together in Punta Arenas, Chile for the Schmidt Ocean Institute SSI2 Chile Margin Species Discovery Workshop. Local experts and invited international participants will be drawing on samples from a series of pioneering scientific expeditions: South Sandwich Islands (2025), Chile Margin (2024) and the Bellingshausen Sea (2025).

Cherisse Persad is an MRes Marine Biology (Deep Sea Biology) student at the University of Plymouth and one of our 2026 Ocean Census Expedition Awardees. Cherisse spent 30 days (29 June – 28 July 2026) on Schmidt Ocean Institute's R/V Falkor (too) - participating in the Deep Wonders of Trinidad and Tobago expedition. Find out more about her experience and what she learnt from the cruise.

Whale falls in the deep ocean represent a form of chemosynthetic ecosystem that hosts a suite of specialised fauna. The authors report three species of munidopsid squat lobsters of the genus Munidopsis Whiteaves, 1874 from a natural whale fall in the northwestern Pacific at a depth of 4,021 m on Torishima Seamount, Izu-Ogasawara Arc.

A new genus, Meteoronia, is established for two new deep-water palaemonid shrimp species from the tropical eastern Atlantic. Both are associated with bivalve hosts and share distinctive morphological features, while differing in rostral structure and cephalic and thoracic appendages.

Following the Shinkai JAMSTEC expedition, taxonomists from Japan and around the world gathered at JAMSTEC headquarters in Yokosuka in October 2025 for a dedicated Species Discovery Workshop. Among the expedition's most recent scientific outcomes are a series of studies led by Dr Chong Chen, Senior Scientist with Tenure at JAMSTEC.

Based on material collected since 1986, this study describes 50 new terebrid species, re-evaluates four synonymised taxa, revises their taxonomic status and generic placement, and resolves long-standing classification challenges within ten genera.

Using molecular and morphological analyses of ten trigonostomid species, including eight newly sequenced taxa, this study resolves relationships within Trigonostomidae, resurrects the genus Messoplana, describes four new species, reclassifies another, and refines the family's phylogenetic framework.

After receiving submissions from around the world, the Ocean Census is proud to announce the four recipients of the 2026 Ocean Census Expedition Awards - a programme designed to accelerate global marine species discovery by directly supporting those on the front lines of ocean science.