Scientists who study islands have apparently been sleeping on the job for years, because get this: Researchers have discovered 657 new islands around the world, making for a grand total of 2,149.

Alas, most of the new islands aren't the good kind of island that you see in beer commercials; rather, they're barrier islands, "narrow offshore deposits of sand and sediment, running parallel to a coast" that couldn't even support a smoke monster if they tried. (Yeah, yeah, barrier islands "help protect low-lying mainland coasts against erosion and storm damage, and can be important wildlife habitats." Whatever.)

Many of the newly-discovered barrier islands were found off the coast of Brazil, near a mangrove forest at the mouth of the Amazon river. They'd previously gone overlooked because "older, low-resolution satellite images didn't show a clear separation between the islands and mangrove," which just sounds like an excuse to us.

Anyway, if you are American, your first question is likely: How many of these islands can I buy and/or establish tax havens upon? We're not sure, but if you can fund a private navy most of them are probably yours for the taking. Save us a couple!

[LiveScience; image via Shutterstock]