A scientific expedition has discovered new species under the Antarctic ice shelf, suggesting that there is more life than expected in one of the largest unexplored marine habitats.
The expedition of researchers from the UK exploration agency in Antarctica accidentally allowed to identify stationary animals in rocks at the bottom of the sea, similar to sponges and of potentially unknown species, revealed the “British Antarctic Survey” (BAS).
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The discovery, presented in a scientific article published in the journal “Frontiers in Marine Science”, “is one of those happy accidents that direct ideas in a different perspective and show that the marine life of Antarctica is special and incredibly adapted to an extreme environment”, said Huw Griffiths, biogeographer and principal researcher at BAS.
Scientists drilled 900 meters on the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf, located in the southeast of the Weddell Sea, at a distance of about 260 km from the open ocean and under complete darkness, where little animal life had already been observed.
When drilling through the ice to collect sediment samples, the researchers hit a rock instead of mud at the bottom of the ocean and found, through video footage, a “large rock covered by strange creatures.”
According to the study now published, the BAS researchers’ discovery raises more questions than the answers it offers about this type of marine life in extreme conditions.
Floating ice shelves represent the largest unexplored habitat in the Southern Ocean. Covering more than 1.5 million km² of the continental shelf of Antarctica, where only a total area similar to the size of a tennis court has been studied through eight previous holes.
Given currents in the region, scientists estimate that the community of organisms now discovered may be about 1,500 kilometers from the nearest source of photosynthesis.
“To answer the new questions, we will have to find a way to get closer to these animals and their environment – and that’s 900 meters deep, under the ice, and 260 km away from the ships where our laboratories are”, commented Huw Griffiths.
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