Ceratonotus steiningeri

This bizarre new copepod, Ceratonotus steiningeri, was first discovered 5,400 meters deep in the Angola Basin in 2006. Within a year it was also collected in the southeastern Atlantic, as well as some 13,000 kilometers away in the central Pacific Ocean. Scientists are puzzled about how this tiny (0.5mm) animal achieved such widespread distribution as they are about how it avoided detection for so long.

Photo Credit: Jan Michels