Zhang noted that in recent years, the nation and the city have been ramping up efforts to protect biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems, which helped research teams to make more extensive investigations and new discoveries. As Chongming Island is speeding up building a world-class eco-friendly island, he hopes their discovery — which might seem tiny but is actually essential for biodiversity and the whole ecosystem — could provide solid support for the bold goal.

"Our current understanding of biodiversity is still far from complete. We need to discover more, learn more about them via research, protect them, and ingeniously exploit the biological resources to benefit humanity," Zhang added.