This species of deep-water sea cucumber (Elpidia belyaevi) was discovered by Census of Marine Life researchers in the frigid waters of the Arctic. Since the 1800s, researchers observed sea cucumbers similar to this one in the Arctic at all depths, from shallow to deep, and assumed they were all the same species, Elpidia glacialis. But after the Census, researchers think that E. glacialis lives mostly in shallow water, while the new species E. belyaevi lives in the mid- and deep ocean.