Strict Embargo: For Media Use After
12 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. GMT
Sunday, December 10, 2006

Contacts: Terry Collins, CoML, +1-416-878-8712; +1-416-538-8712; terrycollins@rogers.com
Darlene Trew Crist, +1-401-295-1356, Sara Hickox, +1-401-874-6277
National, regional and project media contacts: www.coml.org/medres/medres66.htm

Census of Marine Life experts are available for advance interviews. Please call to schedule a time.

Frontiers of Marine Science Stretched by Census Experts

Extreme Life, Marine Style, Highlights 2006 Ocean Census

Scientists intrigued by life around hottest-ever seafloor vent;
Manhattan-sized school of fish off New Jersey coast;
More new than familiar species on Antarctic seafloor

A host of record-breaking discoveries and revelations that stretch the extreme frontiers of marine knowledge were achieved by the Census of Marine Life in 2006, highlights of which were released today.

They include life adapted to brutal conditions around 407°C fluids spewing from a seafloor vent (the hottest ever discovered), a mighty microbe 1 cm in diameter, mysterious 1.8 kg (4 lb) lobsters off the Madagascar coast, a US school of fish the size of Manhattan Island, and more unfamiliar than familiar species turned up beneath 700 meters of Antarctic ice.

Download PDFs of the translated text for the 2006 CoML Highlights Report:

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