More than 1,000 new-to-science sea fish have been described in the past eight years − an average of more than 10 a month, experts have revealed.

The new fish species include 122 sharks and rays, 131 members of the goby family, and a Mediterranean barracuda.

All were identified by researchers compiling the World Register of Marine Species (Worms), an inventory of all known ocean life.

Last year alone, some 1,451 sea creatures were added to the register.

Sadly, we fear, many species will almost certainly disappear due to changing maritime conditions

Worms co-chair Jan Mees, director of the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) in Belgium, said: “Though a few relatively minor gaps remain, we consider the register now virtually complete with respect tospecies described throughout scientific history.

“And, of course, we are constantly updating with newly-described species, revisions of taxonomy, and adding occasional species that have been overlooked.”

Salmo kottelati, a new species of trout found in Turkey.

Mees adds that an estimated 10,000 or more new-to-science species are in laboratories around the world waiting to be described.

New species of relatively large marine animals are still regularly being discovered, said the scientists.

They include the ruby red sea dragon Phuylopteryx dewysea from southern Australia, which was added to the inventory only last month. It was distinguished after comparing its DNA with two other sea dragon species.

Other new fish curiosities include Sphyraena intermedia, a new species of barracuda found in the Mediterranean, Histiophryne psychedelica, an Indonesian frogfish with ‘psychedelic’ colouring, and the African frilled shark species Chlamydoselachus africana. Non-fish marine creatures described last year include two dolphins from Australia and Brazil and 139 sponges.

The scientists have also been sorting out confusion over the registered names of sea creatures, many of which have been duplicated over the years.

One species of sea snail was found to have 113 different names. Even at the rate at which marine species are being described today, it would take 360 more years to identify every creature thought to exist in the oceans, say the researchers. Mees said: “It is humbling to realise that humankind has encountered and described only a fraction of our oceanic kin, perhaps as little as 11 per cent. Sadly, we fear, many species will almost certainly disappear due to changing maritime conditions − especially warming, pollution and acidification − before we’ve had a chance to meet.”