It was announced in 2005 that three new genera and five new species of bacteria had been identified by ROK scientists in the waters off the islets. The genera are "Dokdonella koreensis", "Dokdonia donghaenensis", and "Donghae dokdoensis". The newly identified species are "Virgilbacillus dokdoensis", "Maribacter dokdoensis", "Marimonas dokdoensis", "Polaribacter dokdoensis", and "Porphyrobacter dokdoensis".