5,000 rare species in Pacific threatened by deep-sea mining

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An area of the Pacific sea bed targeted for the world's first deep-sea mining operations is home to more than 5,000 species, many of which scientists said are unlikely to be found anywhere else in the world.

A team at the Natural History Museum found that nine in ten of the species were unknown to science.

Crabs, shrimps, worms and sea cucumbers were among the organisms found after an analysis of 100,000 records taken by ships dating back to 1980 in an area between Hawaii and Mexico known as Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ). The specimens had been collected by underwater remote-controlled vehicles and by dragging boxes along the bottom of the sea bed.

The area is significant because it is likely to be ground zero for