A starfish named after SpongeBob SquarePants' Patrick Star and a worm dressed in shiny scales worthy of Elvis Presley's sequined outfits are among the top 10 most fascinating creatures chosen by experts to highlight the almost 2,000 marine species newly identified last year.

Selecting the most intriguing of these discoveries has been the responsibility of taxonomists and researchers at the National Oceanography Centre and the World Register of Marine Species, and the result is a stunning celebration of the diversity and richness of life on planet Earth.

The spotlight this year shines on some species that, for their feistiness or for their sad stories, have caught the scientists' attention.

READ MORE:

What is going on between Czechia and Russia?

Earth Day revised: A year of firsts

Who is Germany's potential Green chancellor?

In what the scientists have named the "Forest of the Weird," the alien-looking landscape found in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, researchers have spotted a mushroom-shaped glass sponge identified as the new species Advhena magnifica (Latin for "magnificent alien").

Its round shape and its two openings looking a bit like eye sockets reminded scientists of Steven Spielberg's most-beloved alien, and they promptly dubbed the creature E.T. sponge.

Pop culture was celebrated in another marine creature, a new species of starfish named after Patrick Star of the famous Nickelodeon's animated TV series SpongeBob SquarePants. 

Just like Patrick Star, this starfish found in the depths of the northwestern Pacific Ocean is pink and, curiously enough, was observed living on a sponge.

However, real-life Patrick starfish is a bit more slender and "tentacular" than the cartoon one, boasting as many as seven arms.

Bound to be less beloved by the public, but no less fascinating, is the Branch-Armed Nostril Copepod, Dendrapta nasicola, a parasite that irremediably attaches itself to the nostrils of the host. 

Equally slimy looking but featuring some much prettier iridescent colors is the Yellow Sea Slug of Orland, which was discovered in the fjords of Norway. The find was mostly due to scuba divers connecting over Facebook.

Pictures of the sea slug shared on the social platform by two different divers prompted a team of scientists to ask for permission to collect specimens of the marine creature, which was then identified as a new species.

It was dramatic for the scientists to find that a species not yet discovered was already suffering from the impact of plastic pollution in our oceans. 

One of the 11 specimens of the aptly named Eurythenes plasticus discovered in the Mariana Trench which, at between 6 km and 7 km below sea level is the deepest place on our planet, was found to have microplastics in its digestive tract.

The Haffi's Upside-Down Tapeworm, another species that made into the top 10, doesn't face this same problem. Without a digestive tract of their own, tapeworms live in the intestine of other animals. 

This new species for humanity is likely not so new for the planet, as tapeworms have been found to date back to the Devonian period, more than 400 million years ago. 

The Haffi's Upside-Down Tapeworm was named after fish parasitologist Harford 'Haffi' Williams, who contributed greatly to the study of the group of tapeworms to which this one belongs.

France was home to two other discoveries last year, as a coral-like colonial invertebrate belonging to the family of Bryozoans was discovered around Marseille and dubbed Hornera mediterranea, and the Tree-of-Life Tardigrade was found in sandy sediments in the intertidal zone of a bay in Roscoff, in Brittany.

In the top 10 was also a marine creature of more ordinary form – the Red Wide-Bodied Pipefish. Found in Australian waters in only three locations.

This straight-bodied fish with its peculiar elongated snout shaped like a tube is usually green or brown, while the newly discovered species is bright red – the perfect color to camouflage with the red algae and sponges found under Sydney's waters.

Last but not least is the Feisty Elvis Worm, a deep-sea scaleworm covered with shiny scales that reminded scientists of Elvis Presley's signature sequin outfits.

More than 80 percent of the oceans remain unmapped and undiscovered – but every step bringing us closer to understanding the biodiversity of our planet is a step towards protecting it.

_{Cover image: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research/Greg Rouse & Avery Hatch/Zhang, R., Zhou, Y., Xiao, N., Wang, C.}