Seamount mining test provides evidence of ecological impacts beyond deposition.

In July 2020, Japan undertook the first deep-sea mining test of cobalt-rich crusts on the summit of Takuyo-Daigo Seamount within their exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Seabed mining regulations are currently being developed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA); however, a lack of experimental data has so far constrained our understanding of the associated impacts, particularly from the release of sediment plumes. The area of sediment re-deposition from the crust mining test was determined using modeled data and in situ observations.

Battle of the bands: systematics and phylogeny of the white nudibranchs with marginal bands (Nudibranchia, Chromodorididae).

Species identities of nudibranchs with white bodies and various marginal bands have long been problematic. In this study, specimens of these nudibranchs from the Philippines, Peninsular Malaysia, Japan, Papua New Guinea, and Madagascar were analyzed and molecular data were obtained in order to re-examine the relationships between species within this "white with marginal bands" group. The analyses clearly recovered six species groups corresponding to the described species , , , , and as well as one new species, Soong & Gosliner, Notably, , , , , and Soong & Gosliner, exhibit color variation and polymorphism, suggesting that some aspects of color patterns (e.