No, not space. If aliens came to earth and asked to see our most common habitat, we would have to take them to the deep sea. Two thirds of the earth is covered by oceans, and most of this is away from the shallow margins of the land masses. Yet despite its huge scale we still know very little about our deep-sea environments and their unique and often bizarre (to our eyes) inhabitants.

In fact, we know more about space than we do of the vast, deep ocean habitats that cover so much of our planet. We have explored a paltry 5% of them; and the vast majority of recorded observations for marine life are from surface waters beastiality dating. Just a few percent of recorded marine species are known from the bottom half of the water column. Yet already over 230,000 species of marine life have been identified.

As we contemplate our role in the fastest rate of extinction the earth has ever seen, at the same time, scientists are discovering new species in the oceans at almost unprecedented rates. In 2004, over 100 new species of fish were added alone тАУ thatтАЩs more than 2 new species every week, and thatтАЩs just fish.

This presents a paradox: just as our grasp of the abundance and diversity of marine life reaches new levels of sophistication, commensurate is our understanding of the size and burgeoning ramifications of the current cycle of mass extinction. One realisation confirms the terrible power of the human species, the other suggests once again that even on a global scale, we may well just be a footnote in the grand scheme of things tiger beastiality.

If nothing else, the results of the first global concerted effort to both catalogue what we know of marine life, and substantially add to it, provides a welcome and wondrous antidote to the fear gripping those of us who are conscious of environmental issues and our increasing impact on the planet.

The Census of Marine Life is the global organisation leading the way in rapidly progressing our understanding and appreciation of the earthтАЩs ocean habitats. To quote the Census, it is

a growing global network of researchers in more than 70 nations engaged in a ten-year initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life in the oceans – past, present, and future.

Funded to the tune of several US billion, the results of the Census so far are extraordinary. Already, it has assembled and mapped 5.2 million recorded marine species sitings, relating to some 38,000 species (click on the pdf first press release to see the map, or use the link further down in this post) dog dick.

Every year since its inception, exploration voyages sponsored by member nations of the Census of Marine Life have returned with stunning results тАУ thousands of specimes, many having only been recorded once before, many entirely new. Indeed some of the creatures being brought up from the deep we would have only previously credited to the minds of particularly warped B-grade sci fi movie directors - such as this:

Gulper Eel

(for more of the same click here)

As we try and deal with the underlying anxiety generated by the many environmental crises we face, itтАЩs worth taking time out to explore the increasing information available on ocean life offered by the Census. It reveals a whole new dimension to our planet that most of us have yet to really contemplate; a biosphere below us that is at once extraordinarily complex, extraordinarily beautiful, and often, profoundly alien. It reminds us, as the stars do, to be humble and grateful for this world we live in. To be inspired by the myriad of life.

It can also perhaps offer us hope in the form of our fellow humans; 70 nations working together to document the earthтАЩs ocean habitats and share the knowledge with the world for free, exploring bizarre and exciting new realms - this is surely as rousing as space travel, if not more chinese girl beastiality. For we know as we explore the oceans, we are guaranteed of finding more and more new life. In fact scientists expect the number of known marine species to increase 10-fold; over 1.5 million new species. And who knows what they will teach us as individual organisms? But as a vast, unexplored ecology, they highlight once again the wonders of our world, and the magnitude of the privilege we have as its (as far as we know) only sentient stewards.

Seasons Greetings to all.