Chinese scientists have discovered a new plankton species deep in the South China Sea near the disputed Nansha Islands, researchers said today.
The new species of the microscopic organisms that float freely with oceanic currents were found in the South China Sea.
The species lives in the water of 1,500 to 2,600 metres deep, officials at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology said.
It feeds on organic detritus, and is fluorescent, Yin Jianqiang, a research fellow with the institute, told state- run Xinhua news agency.
The species was found in trenches near the disputed Nansha Islands, an area with high tropical maritime biological diversity.
China calls the islands Nansha while Vietnam, which also claims them, refer to them as Spratlys.
Chinese scientists started research near the islands in 1984, the Xinhua report said.
