While scientists continue to look at the great unknown in the deep sea, strange creatures still appear, like so many Pokémon water types. Now a team of marine biologists and geologists have found more bizarre, mysterious marine life; this time almost 3000 meters under an ice shelf in Antarctica. And it can reshape our perception of the way life works in icy, lightless places.
Wired reported on the discovery, which a team from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) recently announced. The team, led by marine biologist Dr. Huw Griffiths, found new life more than half a mile below the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf in the Southern Ocean. The team conducted a 160-kilometer inland survey of their ships when they came across the surprising marine life.
“We were expecting to get a sediment core under the ice shelf, so it was a bit of a surprise when we hit the boulder and saw from the video footage that there were animals living on it,” said Dr. James Smith, a biologist at BAS and co-author of the study describing the finding (published in the journal, Boundaries in marine science), said in a press release. According to the scientists, the animals consist of sponges, some of which are probably new species.
In the video above, Griffiths says the discovery is significant because scientists never expected this kind of animal – filter feeders that eat by sifting food particles out of water – at this extraordinary depth. Griffiths also says that this rock of life is in near-freezing water. And that it is more than 930 kilometers upstream of the nearest source of photosynthetic life.
British Antarctic Survey
The challenge for Griffiths and his colleagues is to study these deep-sea creatures closely and thoroughly; i.e. in a way that is not accidental. To make this happen, however, scientists say they need to find new and innovative ways to see the creatures. They will also have to find it soon, as some scientists say that the 166,000-square-kilometer ice shelf this decade is due to destruction due to destruction.
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