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This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Karen Hopkin. This'll just take a minute.

What do a carnivorous sponge, a lobular yam and a flat-faced psychedelic frogfish all have in common? They're among the Top 10 Species first described in 2009. That's a list put out by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University.

Scientists are discovering new species all the time. But who knew how many? Or how weird¹? According to the Institute, scientists spotted² more than 18,000 plants and animals they'd never seen before in 2008 alone. That year's most notables included caffeine-free coffee and bacteria that live in hairspray. But in 2009 we met: a bug-eating slug (most of 'em stick with algae); a minnow with fangs³, dubbed⁴ the Dracula fish; and a deep-sea worm that confuses predators⁵ by ejecting body parts that then start to glow.

Several new species sport the monikers of folks their discoverers admire, including a very large, carnivorous pitcher⁶ plant named for naturalist⁷ and TV host Sir David Attenborough to mark his 80th birthday. [Attenborough: “The Earth, as it makes its annual journey around the sun…”] Because nothing says happy birthday like being linked with a meat-eating plant big enough to digest a rat.

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.