HYPERS
Dato 1. januar 2026 00:00 – 31. desember 2028 00:00
Full project title: Resolving poorly known hyperbenthic invertebrates in Norwegian marine ecosystems
Funding: Artsdatabanken
Project lead: Akvaplan-niva, Sanna Majaneva
Project partners: The University Museum of Bergen, the Institute of Marine Research, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands, and the Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance (SOSA) at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Germany.
Project goal: Just above the seafloor lies the hyperbenthos—a hidden, little-known habitat teeming with life. In Norwegian waters, this zone may hold more biodiversity than the sea above, yet it has barely been explored. The HYPERS project will shine a light on this overlooked ecosystem. The team will use advanced sampling and species identification techniques to study little-known groups such as hydrozoans, comb jellies, arrow worms, and tiny crustaceans. Their work could reveal species never before recorded in Norway—and perhaps even species new to science.
