The crabs were found in piles around hydrothermal vents on the seafloor during a 2010 expedition conducted by British scientists. Professor Alex Rogers of Oxford University led the voyage, and told LiveScience that the crabs were “literally, in places, heaped up upon each other.”

According to the BBC, the crab has long hairs on its abdomen, inspiring a Hasselhoff comparison. The creature was one of many new species discovered by British scientists exploring deep-sea vents in the Antarctic. Others spotted included a pale octopus and new starfish.

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Damselfish, Chrysiptera cymatilis

It’s always sort of fascinating to me when researchers travel somewhere and “discover” hundreds of new plants and fish–haven’t people in those areas always known about them? I don’t think it counts as discovery so much as an awareness on the part of documented science, but I guess there’s not much distinction between the two on paper. That electric-blue damselfish up there is just one of the hundreds of new fish discovered in the last decade or so. And so pretty!

A new type of tree kangaroo, a 2.5-metre-long river shark, a frog with vampire-like fangs and a turquoise lizard are among hundreds of new creatures found and being documented in a report by conservationists working in the Pacific island of New Guinea.

Some 1,060 previously unknown species of mammals, fish and birds have been spotted in the volcanic island over a 10-year period.

The Final Frontier report, which was put together by WWF as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, marks a brief respite from the escalating rate of animal and plant extinctions which is taking its toll across the planet and has left a quarter of all known mammals on the endangered list.

The species have all been discovered, at a rate of two each week, in the period from 1998 to 2008 by the various teams and researchers who have visited the region and its extensive forests, waters and wetlands.

One team discovered a new bird, the wattled smoky honeyeater, within seconds of leaving their expedition helicopter.

Check out the pics and some stories about the more interesting finds on the Guardian. Link | Slideshow

It seems that scientists are always discovering a new type of frog or insect and getting all excited that they have uncovered a “new” animal while the rest of us don’t really see a big difference. However I think you will agree some of the species on this list are truly  unique.

The pancake batfish (Halieutichthys intermedius) was found in the Gulf of Mexico, and walks along the sea floor using its fleshy fins. It is one of the top ten new species of 2010 announced by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University.

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This is an x-ray image of a Heliotrygon gomesi, one of two new species of freshwater “pancake” stingrays discovered in the Amazon rain forest. See more pictures at Amazing Planet. Link -via Boing Boing

(Image credit: Ken Jones)

This snake takes a pretty picture! The Ruby-Eyed Green Pit Viper (Cryptelytrops rubeus) is a newly-discovered species that lives near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and in Cambodia. National Geographic has more picture of the snake, including its attempt to eat an entire frog that’s as big as the snake. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!

(Image credit: Jeremy Holden)

Scientists first learned of “Snubby”—as they nicknamed the species—from hunters in the remote, mountainous Kachin state (map) in early 2010, according to the U.K.-based conservation group Flora & Fauna International (FFI), which announced the discovery Wednesday.

The hunters told the team of R. strykeri’s fleshy lips, upturned nose, and odd respiratory issue: Rain falling into the monkeys’ noses possibly causes the animals to sneeze, so they often spend soggy days with their heads tucked between their knees, the hunters said.

Local hunters told the FFI team that the rainy season was a good time to look for the monkeys because they made more noise during rain. Eventually, more of the snub-nosed monkeys were seen, but they moved so fast no photographs could be taken. Link

(Image credit: Ngwe Lwin)

This adorable purple octopus, possibly a younger relative of our own Octowriter in the sidebar, could be a new species. An expedition off the coast of Newfoundland identified 11 new species of marine creatures. The project, involving Spanish and Canadian scientists, uses a ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to explore the ocean as far down as 9,800 feet, or 3,000 meters. See pictures of the other new species at National Geographic. Link

(Image credit: Bedford Institute of Oceanography)

No, it’s not really made of glass, but you can see the heart beating inside this frog, one of 30 new species of creatures found in the highlands of Ecuador. See more of the discoveries in a photo gallery at National Geographic. Link -via Metafilter

(image credit: Paul S. Hamilton, RAEI)

Does it seem like science is discovering new species left and right lately? After the discovery of the Cat Ba Leopard gecko, bristleworm that eats only dead whale bones, a ghostshark with sex organ on its head, scientists discovered not one, not one hundred, but 850(!) previously unknown blind and pale creatures living in underground lakes and caves:

The species found in these underground habitats were mostly blind and lacking pigment due to the environment in which they live. Above is an amphipod, a shrimp-like crustacean. Of the water-dwelling creatures found, crustaceans represented about seventy-five percent of the new species.

These otherworldly inhabitants of the subterranean outback have adapted to their light-less environments, sometimes by evolving past the need for eyes. They navigate using vibration and chemical senses.

Above is captioned: a crustacean that has fangs connected to secretory glands, from the stygofauna at Cape Range, Western Australia. This is a very primitive group of crustaceans, previously only known from the northern hemisphere.

Link | More details at LiveScience

I, for one, welcome our new Cat Ba leopard gecko overlord. That fantastically sinister-looking leopard gecko (with the equally cool species name of Goniurosaurus catbaensis) is one of the 162 new species found in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia:

Among the stars in the new list is a fanged frog in eastern Thailand. Given the scientific name Limnonectes megastomias, the frog lies in wait along streams for prey including birds and insects. Scientists believe it uses its fangs during combat with other males.

Another unusual discovery was the Cat Ba leopard gecko found on Cat Ba Island in northern Vietnam. Named Goniurosaurus catbaensis, it has large, orange-brown catlike eyes and leopard spots down the length of its yellowish brown body.

Lee Grismer, of La Sierra University in California, said he found a tiger-stripped [sic] pit viper in Vietnam described in the report while he was attempting to capture a second gecko species.

"We were engrossed in trying to catch a new species of gecko when my son pointed out that my hand was on a rock mere inches away from the head of a pit viper," Grismer said in a statement. "We caught the snake and the gecko and they both proved to be new species."

Whatever you do, don’t look into the Cat Ba leopard gecko’s eyes … Link

An expedition on the Nangaritza River of Ecuador, near the border with Peru, has uncovered nearly a dozen species new to science, including four amphibians, a lovely lizard, insects, and plants.

This one above is a species of glass frog, Hyalinobatrachium pellucidum, named after its translucent skin.

These discoveries are hoped to encourage the government to protect the area, which is close to a "peace park" created in the late 90s after decades of conflict. More photos and videos are available from Conservation International.

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ecoconservant.

Expeditions to the coral reefs of the Red Sea and Indonesia revealed a flurry of 5 new (and cute!) pygmy seahorses. This one above is the Walea pygmy seahorse, found off the waters of the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

National Geographic has the photo gallery: Link