DISCOVERING NEW SPECIES WITH
NEVILLE COLEMAN AND FRIENDS
It was never just a matter of taking pictures. In 1968 Australian Marine Science made it very clear to me that unless every image was supplied with a specimen cross - referenced, the image by itself was worthless as a means of identification. ( Photo: Jorina van der Weshuizen)
I hated collecting the specimens, but without one of each the entire exercise of taking photographs and recording marine life as a contribution to knowledge would have been a waste of time. Even with the specimens, hundreds of species are still awaiting descriptions in Australian Museums.
We have come a long way since 1968 and today we can now identify some 6000 to 7000 species of Marine creatures by their visual features without having to kill them. The World of Water contains far more species than we ever dreamed of, so although there is no need to collect any of the 7000 we already know, there still remains a vast void in our knowledge and in the future somebody will have to go get the DNA and do it all over again?
Throughout the World of Water there are many thousands of undescribed life forms and an incredible amount of unknown information regarding the habits and behaviour to be recorded on the creatures we can reference with a name.
Every diver is an explorer, yet to understand and be able to relate to the myriad organisms living within a maze of interactive habitats on the ocean floor requires some knowledge of what already exists.
There are so many different camouflages, colour combinations, designs, pattern, shapes and sizes that it takes more than a little dedication to recognise and distinguish one from another.
Visual identification has come a long way since my early days of setting up the Australasian Marine Photographic Index over 40 years ago. Today there are now hundreds of identification guides to assist divers to understand and recognise the creatures they encounter.
However, our present knowledge is very rudimentary and there is still a long way to go and this is what makes scuba diving one of the most exciting adventure activities on the planet.
Coleman's Bubble Coral shrimp Vir colemani was first found in Milne Bay in the 1980's. It took another 25 years before it was recognised as different and described and published. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
NEW SPECIES, the unfortunate reality in Australia
Discovering a new species by taking a photograph and having it acknowledged by current experts as undescribed, is not difficult. The difficulty occurs in establishing and recording the creature by scientific process.
For any new species to have any possibility of being named and scientifically described it must first be collected and preserved and donated to a scientific establishment that has a taxonomist who works on that group of animals.
It's proposed that there could be some 10,000 species of flatworms? Certainly there are a lot, and most are not described. Unfortunately there are few people in the world (except divers and marine scientists) that even know they exist, let alone flatworm taxonomists available to work on the group. This attractive little one appears undescribed and may belong to the genus Pseudoceros ? ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Unless the Museum has a specialiast taxonomist in its employ whose interest may border on what you have discovered then unfortunately there is little hope that it will be described in your lifetime, if ever!
Australian Museums are mostly short of funds and almost all of the MARINE LIFE DEPARTMENTS are without enough specialist curators in major phyla, and as such, may only have only one or two curators actively working full time on marine taxonomy. In many cases specialist taxonomists can be either retired curators who work part time as unpaid volunteers, or Research Associates (who may also be part time volunteers and work on their own research interests) utilizing museum's huge resource collections to advance knowledge by publishing papers on new species.
YEARS OF WAITING
Should a find be significant and a Marine taxonomist willing to take on the extra workload on top of his or her current research program, it could take from 2 to 40 years for the description to be published in a scientific journal and the animal named.
This might seem a long time, but in some fields of Marine taxonomy there may only be a few people in the entire world working on the hundreds, and often thousands of animals awaiting new descriptions. I waited 22 years to get my donated fish collection named and 25 years for lists of donated molluscs and some nudibranchs. In other cases a published name has appeared within 2 years of the animals discovery, which provides impetus to go find more. It all depends on the circumstances; the work load, the state of the group and the percentage of difficulty (such as having to complete an entire revision of known species to compliment the new species, or number of new species in the published paper.)
Another example of where a species had been known to many divers and photographers for over 30 years, yet it had not been named. Nobody had bothered to collect one and send it off to be identified until I did so in 2003. This is a photograph of the type specimen of what is now known as the Grand Shrimp Periclimenes grandidens from Loloata Island, PNG. (Name and description courtesy of Dr. Sandy Bruce, Research Associate Queensland Museum)
( photo: Neville Coleman)
It does not automatically apply that the discoverer of a new species has it named after them. The decision of the name depends on the author of the species.
The described specimen remains the property of the scientific establishment and from then on is known as the 'type species'. The published description and accompanying images in a scientific journal then stand as a guide to all future references and identifications of that animal.
( At one time the Australian Museum valued a 'type species' at $5000.00) However, they would never actually pay this amount, because most people donate their goods and services. In affect, most Australian Museums depend a great deal on voluntary labour and the charity of the public for their day to day existance.
Past and present Governments in Australia have not thought that Marine Science was an important part of community benifits and so Marine Science studies have dwindled. Australian University Students are not encouraged to go down the road of Marine Studies ( no matter how interested they may be) because there are so few jobs for them to compete for when they get their doctrates.
First found at Milne Bay in 2003 this undescribed Orange -frilled Lomanotus Lomanothus sp. is among several species of Lomanotus that are awaiting descriptions. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
My ability to announce the possibility of a new species being discovered is that I have around 12,000 species of animals and plants already compiled in my World of Water Image Bank ( so far I have only been able to upload around 1500 species at the website) and of these at least 6 to 7000 are identified. Many of these species are available due to the dilligence of Australian taxonomists identifying specimens and together our combined efforts has advanced the overall knowledge of marine life in general. My sincere thanks to all.
This material, combined with 40 years of experience and a vast knowledge of the creatures already known to exist in each Family, or Genus, allows me to make an educated decision as to whether that organism has been described. As back up, I also have friends and colleagues who have specialist expertise beyond my own (in specialist fields) that will also grant me an educated opinion.
Thought to be a new species, this Milne Bay Thecacera Thecacera sp. was found in 2004. There are several other forms which have been found at other locations years before by other photographers. It remains to be seen if these are as different as they appear? ( photo: Neville Coleman)
THE REAL WORLD
Early in my career I was led to understand by individuals in the Australian scientific community that If I discovered new species and deposited them with Australian museums that these creatures would be described, and so being my contributions would advance knowledge. However, while this was true for some species, there are hundreds of specimens I originally discovered which I now know will never even be looked at in my lifetime.
Meanwhile I have published many images of my original discoveries and other specimens in my books. Some of these have been found 20 years later by others who have sent their specimens overseas and consequently the species have been described by overseas taxonomists with no reference to my original specimens, or published images, even though ( the overseas taxonomists) had previous knowledge that my specimens were available in Australian museums.
Before Rob van der Loos found these Hermit Crab Anemone Shrimps Periclimenes dardanicola on a night dive in Milne Bay, PNG, they were only known from Japan. It appears they have now been described. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
I dedicated my life and 40 years of work, earnings and effort to increasing knowledge of the World of Water and although I have been able to do this on my own account (by taking on huge financial risks and publishing my own books) to see many of my discoveries credited to others has been very disappointing to say the least.
However, that is the way Marine Science works. Whoever publishes the most descriptions of new species is more likely to get the most grants from the Goverment, or funding bodies. So between taxonomists working in the same fields of expertize ( even on a world wide basis) there is intense rivalry for funds and towards getting their specimens published first. ( as there may be several taxonomists working towards publishing a description of the same new species)
In such cases, there is no second prize. The first published, wins!
Discovered at Loloata Island, PNG in April 2003 in 20 metres of water this undescribed species of Sea Cucumber Thelenota sp. is also now known from the Philippines. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
All my original idealistic notions of an Australian Marine Scientific community all working together for the good of humanity has been shattered through the years. In the ocean, the big predatory fish eat the little ones, and the same goes for the human race. Its just business as usual!
In the reality of all things, I guess it really does not matter, because at the end of the day regardless of who does what, knowledge is being advanced and people have the chance of sharing in the wonder of nature.
CO OPERATION TOWARDS INCREASING KNOWLEDGE
However, I have had the honour of working with many Australian Marine Scientists and taxonomists who have made my journey through the minefield of science ( with little education and no PhD to smooth the way) as great an adventure as I could have dared to dream about.
Between us all, we have been able to come to terms with the huge amount of work that remained unpublished and with their encouragement I have been able to provide the means to publish thousands of marine animals in a host of Marine Life Publications, many hundreds of species seen in living colour for the first time.
The work of discovering this new species of giant bristle worm in Milne Bay was at the hands of underwater photographer /explorer, Roger Steene in 2002. It has since been described as Van der Loo's Bristle Worm Polydontes vanderloosi. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
SIMPLISTIC NAIVETY
In the early years of my association with Australian Museums I had been told by Museum taxonomists that the reason that they could not spend time identifying my specimens was that they had so much work to do dealing with public demands (there were few Marine Life Guides available in 1968) that there was no time left to do their research.
Found under a waterlogged pylon feeding on their host sponge, this undescribed pair of Patterened Atagema Atagema sp. are an almost perfect resemblance to their food sponge. ( April 2005) ( photo: Neville Coleman)
I took this to heart and went and photograped the animals right around Australia ( AUSTRALIAN COASTAL MARINE EXPEDITION 1969- 1973) and collected and donated the specimens and cross referenced them into a system (Australasian Marine Photographic Index) and since then I have produced 65 books so that taxonomists would have the time to identify specimens and advance knowledge.
Unmatched to any known species, this beautiful species of flatworm from Milne Bay, with large, well - formed head tentacles could possibly belong in the family Callioplanidae? ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Unfortunately in the meantime those same taxonomists have retired or gone to the big museum in the sky and some Australian Museums have shut up shop on marine curators (by not replacing them since retiring) and after 40 years I am still chasing identifications.
However, that same naivety has stood me in good stead. I had no idea how big the job was that I had taken on, because I had no idea how big the World of Water was, or how many species there were. Just an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, a burning desire to contribute, and a love of life, regardless of its disappointments and fragility.
A rare species at the most, the 'Fried Egg Tambja' Tambja sp. has only been noticed on two occasions at Milne Bay and has not been matched to any known species? ( photo: Neville Coleman)
For more species discovered by Neville Click here!
I may never get to all the places I planned to go, and I may never find all there is to find, BUT one thing is for shore, if I don't, it won't be through lack of trying.......
I would like to thank all the taxonomists and scientists at Australian and overseas institutions that have through their work contributed so much to our knowledge of Marine Life, both past and present. I am especially thankful that with their assistance my contributions have managed to move ahead as far as they have.
Yet thats what makes the life of an underwater explorer so exciting: you never know what the next dive might turn up.
WELCOME!............ TO MY JOURNEY
On these pages I will publish as many new discoveries as I have images of, together with all the locality data and dates when the specimens were collected and photographed, from 1968 onwards. These records will give some indication of the fantastic diversity of new marine creatures we have all encountered on our expeditions and adventures that still remain a mystery.
Neville Coleman's diving expeditions, fauna surveys, photographic fauna surveys and marine life identification courses include every major group of marine life.
Neville Coleman's expertise in marine life identification extends to the identification of Algae, Sea Grass, Forams, Sponges, Stony Corals, Soft Corals, Sea Anemones, Sea Jellies, Zoanthids, Corallimorphs, Black Corals, Flatworms, Segmented Worms, Crustaceans, Barnacles, Shrimps, Rock Lobsters, Hermit Crabs, Squat Lobsters, Molluscs, Chitons, Univalves, Bivalves, Cephalopods, Octopus, Cuttlefish, Squid, Opisthobranchs, Nudibranchs, Sea Slugs, Bryozoans, Sea Mosses, Echinoderms, Sea Stars, Feather Stars, Brittle Stars, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, Ascidians/Sea Squirts, Marine Fish, Sharks, Marine Reptiles, and Marine Mammals, all found in the waters around.
( Copyright Neville Coleman & acknowledged photographers)