For comparison, that is one-million times the organic matter you are likely to find in a similar amount of soil on land. The large number of sea creatures excites Mr. Fenical.
“For the last fifty years, microorganisms that occur on land have been exploited for the production of antibiotics, cancer drugs, and cholesterol-lowering drugs. What we believe is that the ocean is a completely new resource for such microbial products.”
His team already has two drugs in development. And he believes there will be many discoveries of ocean-based medicines.
A small blood-sucking crustacean has been discovered in the Caribbean waters off the Virgin Islands. The creature may help increase scientists’ understanding of how disease is passed among marine animals.
The new species is called Gnathia marleyi. It was named for the reggae star Bob Marley. Paul Sikkel is a marine biologist at Arkansas State University. He says the species is the first new find in the crustacean-like gnathiid family in twenty years.
“What’s interesting about them is that they’re only parasitic in the juvenile stage. So they only feed when they are juveniles, and they go through three different juvenile stages -- one bigger than the other, each bigger than the other. And they look a little bit like, like ticks or fleas. They look very similar to, you know, to terrestrial blood feeding organisms.”
Paul Sikkel captured the juvenile marleyi at what researchers call a “cleaning station.” That is a place on the coral reef where big fish gather so smaller fish and shrimp can eat parasites that have joined to their skin. Parasites depend on other creatures for food and shelter. However, the adult male marleyi do not eat. They just mate and die.
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