Update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has updated its Red List of Threatened Species, highlighting that over half of the world’s hydrothermal vent molluscs are threatened by deep-sea mining.

Key Findings

According to the updated assessment, 62% of endemic hydrothermal vent mollusc species (125 out of 201 species) are at risk of extinction due to the exploration and extraction of valuable seabed minerals.

The IUCN Red List now includes 175,909 assessed species, of which 49,505 species are classified as threatened with extinction.

Many of the affected molluscs—including chitons, clams, mussels, snails, sea slugs, tusk shells, octopuses, and squids—have been discovered only within the past decade and already face significant threats from habitat disturbance.

Deep-sea mining generates sediment plumes that can smother marine organisms, impair their ability to breathe, feed, and absorb nutrients, thereby threatening fragile deep-sea ecosystems.

The deep-sea snail Lirapex felix has been listed as Critically Endangered due to ongoing mineral exploration activities in the Indian Ocean.

In contrast, more than 30 hydrothermal vent species have been classified as Least Concern because they occur within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

One such species is Provanna exquisita, an ornate snail found exclusively in the Mariana Arc of Fire National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific Ocean, where it benefits from legal habitat protection.

The updated Red List also recorded a conservation success, with the numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus), the faunal emblem of Western Australia, improving its conservation status from Endangered to Near Threatened due to sustained conservation efforts.

Source: IUCN

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