Scientists on Thursday launched a mission to discover 100,000 new species in the world's oceans.
The "ocean census" will be carried out by divers, submarines and deep-sea robots.
Experts behind the initiative say little more than 10 per cent of marine life has been discovered.
The project is being led by researchers in the UK and Japan.
New species discovered will be sent to laboratories around the world for imaging and DNA sequencing.
The endeavour comes as climate change and pollution raise fears for marine life.
Mitsuyuki Unno, the head of the Nippon Foundation, a Japanese philanthropic group, said he hoped the project would "catalyse global efforts to conserve our ocean".
"Ocean life makes all life on Earth possible and holds the wisdom of four billion years of our evolution on Earth," said Yohei Sasakawa, the foundation's chairman.
"We can't protect what we don't know exists."
Researchers hope that sharing their findings worldwide will speed up the process of scientifically describing new species.
New technology means this could be done in a few months rather than taking several years, said Alex Rogers, the project's science director.
"Revolutions in technologies such as digital imaging, sequencing and machine learning now make it possible to discover ocean life at speed and at scale," he said.
The project's aim is to find at least 100,000 new species in its first decade.
New species will be given Latin scientific names, and colloquial names in some cases.
Ocean Census scientists believe there could be as many as 2.2 million species lurking in the water – with only about 240,000 found so far.
The census will involve dozens of expeditions to marine biodiversity hot spots, making use of private and government-owned research vessels, organisers say.
They see their mission as building on historic expeditions such as the voyages of HMS Challenger, which made early deep-sea discoveries between 1872 and 1876.
"We have a race against time to discover ocean life before it is lost for generations to come," Mr Sasawaka said.
"Ocean Census will create an immense wealth of openly accessible knowledge that will benefit and sustain all life on Earth, for humankind and our planet."
Marine life is endangered by factors such as warming ocean temperatures, declining water quality, overfishing and pollution, according to UN experts.
A global biodiversity pact signed last year calls for 30 per cent of the world's land and oceans to be placed under protection by 2030.
Countries agreed that biodiversity "is fundamental to human well-being and a healthy planet".
Only an estimated 8 per cent of the world's marine areas are currently under protection.
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
The Two Popes
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce
Four out of five stars
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
