Seamount mining test provides evidence of ecological impacts beyond deposition.

In July 2020, Japan undertook the first deep-sea mining test of cobalt-rich crusts on the summit of Takuyo-Daigo Seamount within their exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Seabed mining regulations are currently being developed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA)1; however, a lack of experimental data has so far constrained our understanding of the associated impacts, particularly from the release of sediment plumes.2 The area of sediment re-deposition from the crust mining test was determined using modeled data and in situ observations. To investigate biological impacts, variations in seabed megafauna (animals > 1 cm) were quantified from seabed imagery collected around the excavation site before, 1 month, and 13 months after the test in areas both inside and outside (adjacent) expected deposition. Observable responses varied across community components: densities of sessile animals were similar between deposition and adjacent areas throughout the study; mobile epifauna were less abundant only in the deposition area following disturbance; and highly mobile swimmers showed reduced densities after the test in both deposition and adjacent areas following disturbance. These results stress that monitoring of highly mobile taxa may be essential to fully assess disturbance extent and magnitude. Fish may avoid areas even outside plume deposition, possibly owing to the creation of suboptimal feeding patches resulting from deposition. Our findings suggest sufficiently large (>300 × 300 m), distant, and representative control areas are essential to optimally map deep-sea mining impacts in ferromanganese crust habitats to ensure impact assessments encompass the full range of functional components in the megabenthic community (including mobile fishes) that typically inhabit seamounts.

Battle of the bands: systematics and phylogeny of the white Goniobranchus nudibranchs with marginal bands (Nudibranchia, Chromodorididae).

Species identities of Goniobranchus nudibranchs with white bodies and various marginal bands have long been problematic. In this study, specimens of these Goniobranchus nudibranchs from the Philippines, Peninsular Malaysia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, and Madagascar were analyzed and molecular data were obtained in order to re-examine the relationships between species within this "white Goniobranchus with marginal bands" group. The analyses clearly recovered six species groups corresponding to the described species Goniobranchusalbonares, G.preciosus, G.rubrocornutus, G.sinensis, and G.verrieri as well as one new species, G.fabulus Soong & Gosliner, sp. nov. Notably, G.preciosus, G.sinensis, G.rubrocornutus, G.verrieri, and G.fabulus Soong & Gosliner, sp. nov. exhibit color variation and polymorphism, suggesting that some aspects of color patterns (e.g., presence or absence of dorsal spots) may not always be useful in the identification of species in the "white Goniobranchus with marginal bands" group, whereas other features such as gill and rhinophore colors and the arrangement and colors of the mantle marginal bands are more diagnostic for each species.