Each year, researchers discover an estimated 18,000 new species across the globe. These new species include small mammals, birds, insects, fish, reptiles, flowers, and fungi. And this year, the new species identified in 2024 did not disappoint. Check out our selection of the most interesting new species.
1. Mussel of the Alabama Undersea Forest
A researcher from Northeastern University’s Marine Science Center discovered a new species of mussel that dwells in an ancient underwater cypress grove in Alabama. This grove, known as the Alabama Undersea Forest (Alabama Underwater Forest), was also only recently discovered.
Researcher Dan Distel was researching shipworms — dubbed the termites of the sea — that lived inside the submerged cypress trees when he found the mussel in a shipworm’s burrow. The mussel was no larger than a grain of rice.
What’s fascinating about this find is that the mussel is related to deep-sea mussels that can grow to be a foot long. The new species is different enough though, and was named Vadumodiolus teredinicola, which means “shallow mussel shipworm dweller,” according to Distel in a statement.
