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Researchers found a new species in the waters off of the U.K. — but they didn’t realize it at first
A new species of sea slug has been discovered off the waters of the U.K. Researchers with Centre for the Environment, Food and Aquaculture Science said they originally thought it was a well-known species, Pleurobranchaea meckeli, found near Spain and the Mediterranean Sea – but they weren’t sure.
There were no previous records of this type of slug in the U.K., “raising questions around its identity,” the center said in a news release.
The new species of slug, which has been named Pleurobranchaea britannica, is between two and five centimeters long – less than two inches and has gills on its side. It was discovered during a routine survey of sea life in southwest England and the center searched for experts who specialized in this type of slug to help them identify it.
Ross Bullimore via CEFAS
They sent the specimen to University of Cádiz in Spain, where researchers looked at its DNA and physical characteristics, finding it had a different appearance and reproductive system than other known species. So, it was determined it is a new, standalone species.
“The discovery marks the first recorded instance of a sea slug from the Pleurobranchaea genus in U.K. waters,” the news release reads. “Scientists believe that this new species could potentially be found from as far south as Spain and Portugal, around the French coast and up to the southwest of the English Channel.”
While slugs may be small, they are not just prey – but also predators.
To protect themselves from predators, some sea slugs will recycle parts of the prey they eat. If they eat prey that has toxins, for example they will secrete the poison into their own skin.
“It is exciting to see that routine fisheries surveys can still lead to such discoveries. It only took a brief inspection of two specimens to be confident that we had stumbled upon a species of Pleurobranchaea,” said Ross Bullimore, a marine ecologist who collected the specimens. “This was thrilling because no other species from this genus had been documented in U.K. waters, or even this far north.”
Bullimore said they were “blown away to discover that we had identified a third, new species.”
“There is often an assumption that we know everything there is to know about species found in U.K. waters, but this just goes to show that there is still so much to learn in our own backyard,” he said.
Hayden Close, a seabed analyst and modeller at the center, said it is “exhilarating” to uncover a new species. “It just goes to highlight the value of these surveys and serves as a reminder of the ocean’s boundless unexplored secrets, even in areas we consider well-charted and studied,” Close said.
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Sen. Thom Tillis says “the scope” of Helene damage in North Carolina “is more like Katrina”
As recovery missions and repairs continue in North Carolina more than a week after Hurricane Helene carved a path of devastation through the western part of the state, the state’s Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called for more resources to bolster the relief effort and likened the damage to Hurricane Katrina’s mark on Louisiana in 2005.
“This is unlike anything that we’ve seen in this state,” Tillis told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday morning. “We need increased attention. We need to continue to increase the surge of federal resources.”
Hurricane Helene ripped through the Southeast U.S. after making landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 as a powerful Category 4 storm. Helene brought heavy rain and catastrophic flooding to communities across multiple states, including Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, with North Carolina bearing the brunt of the destruction. Officials previously said hundreds of roads in western North Carolina were washed out and inaccessible after the storm, hampering rescue operations, and several highways were blocked by mudslides.
Tillis said Sunday that most roads in the region likely remained closed due to flooding and debris. Water, electricity and other essential services still have not been fully restored.
“The scope of this storm is more like Katrina,” he said. “It may look like a flood to the outside observer, but again, this is a landmass roughly the size of the state of Massachusetts, with damage distributed throughout. We have to get maximum resources on the ground immediately to finish rescue operations.”
Hurricane Katrina left more than 1,000 people dead after it slammed into Louisiana’s Gulf Coast in August 2005, flooding neighborhoods and destroying infrastructure in and around New Orleans as well as in parts of the surrounding region. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. in the last 50 years, and the costliest storm on record.
The death toll from Hurricane Helene is at least 229, CBS News has confirmed, with at least 116 of those deaths reported in North Carolina alone. Officials have said they expect the death toll to continue to rise as recovery efforts were ongoing, and a spokesperson for the police department in Asheville told CBS News Friday their officers were “actively working 75 cases of missing persons.”
On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Transportation released $100 million in emergency funds for North Carolina to rebuild the roads and bridges damaged by the hurricane.
“We are providing this initial round of funding so there’s no delay getting roads repaired and reopened, and re-establishing critical routes,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris administration will be with North Carolina every step of the way, and today’s emergency funding to help get transportation networks back up and running safely will be followed by additional federal resources.”
President Biden previously announced that the federal government would cover “100%” of costs for debris removal and emergency protective measures in North Carolina for six months.
With North Carolina leaders working with a number of relief agencies to deal with the aftermath of the storm, Tillis urged federal officials to ramp up the resources being funneled into the state’s hardest-hit areas. The senator also addressed a surge in conspiracy theories and misinformation about the Biden Administration’s disaster response, which have been fueled by Republican political figures like former President Donald Trump.
Trump falsely claimed that Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent in the November presidential election, were diverting funds from Federal Emergency Management Agency that would support the relief effort in North Carolina toward initiatives for immigrants. He also said baselessly that the administration and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, were withholding funds because many communities that were hit hardest are predominantly Republican. Elon Musk has shared false claims about FEMA, too.
“Many of these observations are not even from people on the ground,” Tillis said of those claims. “I believe that we have to stay focused on rescue operations, recovery operations, clearing operations, and we don’t need any of these distractions on the ground. It’s at the expense of the hard-working first responders and people that are just trying to recover their lives.”
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