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Building on the success of Nekton’s First Descent: Comoros 2025 mission, this Ocean Census Species Discovery Workshop will take place at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) in Makhanda from January 26 to February 13, 2026. Working with Comorian researchers under the R-POC programme (Strengthening Ocean Protection in Comoros), the expedition collected a diverse range of endemic species for lab research and to support the conservation and sustainable management of these waters.
The workshop brings together a specialised international team of taxonomists to work alongside Comorian researchers to identify and catalogue species samples from the expedition.
The biological specimens at the species discovery workshop will include a mix of legacy samples (potentially cephalopods and tunicates in collections at SAIAB), as well as highly up to date samples.
The workshop will focus on identifying and cataloguing potentially new marine species collected during the expedition. Using Ocean Census protocols, participating taxonomists will confirm the uniqueness of these species based on morphology and, where relevant, genetics, creating detailed catalogue entries and high-resolution images for each candidate species.
The discoveries made at this workshop will directly contribute to the Ocean Census mission to accelerate the discovery and description of marine life. All data collected will be fed into the Ocean Census Biodiversity Data Platform, providing a digital record of life forms and supporting future taxonomy and conservation science.
The Comoros Species Discovery Workshop will feature twelve exceptional group of scientists from diverse regions and specialisations, including:
The waters around the Comoros archipelago, nestled in the Mozambique Channel, are some of the most biodiverse yet least studied marine ecosystems on the planet. The First Descent mission’s initial observations — including evidence of vibrant deep-water life and healthy reef communities far below typical diving depths — underscore a world brimming with ecological complexity.
By bringing global experts together with invaluable biological material, the workshop fills critical knowledge gaps and drives forward taxonomy, biodiversity science, and conservation in the Comoros region. Every new species confirmed brings us one step closer to building a more complete picture of the complexity of these ecosystems, and empowering ocean nations to inform marine policy.
