Study discovers new isopod species in Florida Keys

A new species of marine cryptofauna has been found in the Florida Keys by an international team of researchers Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the Water Research Group from the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at the North-West University in South Africa. Most of the biodiversity in the ocean is made up of tiny, covert organisms called cryptofauna.

There are only 15 species of the genus Gnathia currently recognised in the area, including the roughly three-millimetre-long isopod.

Gnathia jimmybuffetti, a newly identified species of crustacean that belongs to the gnathiid isopod family, was collected using light traps placed in shallow water and was then identified through photomicrographs and genetic sequencing.

“Upon examination, it was determined to be a species that was previously unknown to science,” said senior investigator Paul Sikkel, a research professor in the Department of Marine Biology and Ecology at the Rosenstiel School. “It’s the first new Florida gnathiid to be discovered in 100 years.”

These tiny animals, which are found throughout the world’s oceans lead a very curious life. The juveniles are most active at night and feed on the blood of fish like a mosquito or ticks. The adults do not feed and live hidden in rubble on the ocean floor. Given their lifestyle, they are grouped as parasites, organisms that require a living host for survival.

The current severe marine heat wave events in Florida and other regions of the world that host coral reefs are a big concern for species like Gnathia Jimmybuffetti, which cannot simply swim to cooler water. Work by Sikkel’s team on other gnathiid species has shown that at above-average seawater temperatures, mortality rates increase, and the abundance of gnathiids on reefs decreases significantly. To the extent these effects are likely to be similar for the myriad of other small invertebrates that live in or near the benthos (bottom), this can have major impacts on coral reef food webs.

Since the species was discovered in the Florida Keys and Sikkel and his team are long-time fans of Jimmy Buffett’s music—which is synonymous with the Florida Keys—they named the new species: Gnathia jimmybuffetti after the music legend.

“By naming a species after an artist, we want to promote the integration of the arts and sciences,” said Sikkel, whose research team named a similar species from the Caribbean after Bob Marley (Gnathia Marley).

“All species in an ecosystem play an important role and all species have something to teach us,” said Sikkel. “As we discover new species, we are reminded of how many undiscovered species there still are.”