- California Academy of Sciences researchers and collaborators described 72 new-to-science species in 2025, including a bird, fish, plants, sea slugs, and insects found across six continents, from ocean depths to national parks.
- The discoveries include the first new plant genus found in a U.S. national park in nearly 50 years — a fuzzy wildflower called the woolly devil spotted by a volunteer in Texas — and the Galápagos lava heron, a commonly seen bird that DNA analysis revealed is actually a distinct species.
- Marine expeditions uncovered colorful new species like a shy perchlet with red spots in the Maldives and 11 new sea slugs, while also revealing significant plastic pollution threatening these poorly understood twilight zone ecosystems.
- One newly described cardinalfish came from a 1997 Cuban expedition that Fidel Castro joined, with the specimen sitting in the academy’s collection for 30 years before being formally studied — demonstrating how preserved specimens can lead to new discoveries as technology advances.
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