A flat-faced frogfish with a psychedelic pattern and a “killer” carnivorous sponge are among the top 10 new species discovered in 2009, according to a committee of international scientists. The list of newly described or named species is compiled every year by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and an international committee of taxonomists - scientists responsible for species exploration and classification. Also in the top 10 were a freshwater minnow with fangs found in Myanmar, the first new golden orb spider found since 1879, a deep-sea worm that releases green luminescent “bombs” when threatened, and a sea slug that eats insects found in Pak Phanang Bay in the Gulf of Thailand. Rounding out the top 10 list were a banded knifefish, a charismatic plant that produces insect-trapping pitchers the size of an American football, a two-inch mushroom, and an edible yam found in Madagascar that has multiple lobes instead of just one. Scientists estimate there are between 2 million and 100 million species on Earth, though most set the number closer to 10 million.
