Bmda: Huge sea microbe discovery off Bermuda

Pioneering research off Bermuda has led to the discovery of 1,800 new species - and perhaps as many as 53,000 - and forced scientists to change some of their fundamental ideas about ocean biology. Genome pioneer Craig Venter teamed up with Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) to analyse small samples of ocean from the Sargasso Sea and then sequenced the genetic code. The astonishing diversity found in the 1.2 million new genes discovered in waters off the Island, considered to be an oceanic desert, has led scientists to believe that more than 99 percent of species remain to be discovered.