With over 80 percent of the ocean itself is unexplored, scientists estimate that 91 percent of marine species have yet to be classified. Slowly but surely, researchers are chipping away at these statistics little by little. Two recent finds by marine scientist include a blood-red jellyfish found by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and a deep-sea shark discovered by the Pacific Shark Research Center.

Red Jellyfish

NOAA scientists found a new red jellyfish in about 2,300 feet of water off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island. The discovery was made by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) during one of NOAA's North Atlantic Stepping Stones expeditions.

The jellyfish was spotted as the ROV, the Deep Discoverer, was descending to a depth of about 3,000 feet. The crew was filming the entire dive and caught the new species on camera.

Scientists believe the jellyfish belongs to the genus Poralia, which currently only has one other identified member — Poralia rufescens. This species is similar to the recently discovered jellyfish, with the same red color, but it has more of a bell shape and over 30 long tentacles.

NOAA's North Atlantic Stepping Stones was a series of 25 ROV dives conducted this summer to depths from about 800 to 13,000 feet. The goal of the program is to help scientists better understand facets of deep-water habitats including biodiversity and distribution.

“Overall, a variety of animals were seen, like ctenophores, cnidarians, crustaceans, and Actinopterygii [ray-finned fishes],” Quinn Girasek, a NOAA intern at the Juniata College in Pennsylvania, tells Express UK. “We also saw several undescribed families and potentially new species.”

For Girasek, though, the jellyfish was a highlight.

“I can’t wait until we learn more about those organisms,” she says.

Catshark

Between 2012 and 2014, researchers with the Pacific Shark Research Center in Moss Landing, California, collected eight similar deep-sea shark specimens, and they were just recently identified as a new catshark species.

Scientists named the species Apristurus manocheriani, common name Manocherian’s Catshark, after shark research and conservation supporter Greg Manocherian.

“The new species is part of the largest shark family – Pentachidae — and also part of the largest order of sharks – Carcharhiniformes,” David A. Ebert, lead author of the study and Program Director at the Pacific Shark Research Center, tells Indian Express.

There are a total of 39 catshark species, most of which are found in the Western Pacific.

Average males of the species can reach about two feet, and females a foot and a half. Although they may not be as sleek as the sharks divers are used to seeing in the shallows, they’re just as important to their ecosystems.

“Sharks are a very diverse group, and people do not realize that there are nearly 536 species, Ebert says. “The discovery of this new deep-sea species also highlights how little we still know of the deep sea.”

Researchers are now focusing on conducting further studies on the species.

“At the moment we are unaware of any existing threats to the species since it appears to live around seamounts far from landmasses. However, now that it is named we can further investigate,” Ebert says. “The team is currently working on some additional species from the same region that were also collected as part of the project.”

The sharks were collected during surveys along an underwater mountain system called the Southwest Indian Ridge, which cuts between Africa and Antarctica. They’re now preserved specimens at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

**Correction: This article initially referred to Quinn Girasek as he, not she. This error has been corrected.