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Freakishly Large Sea Creatures Found Near Antarctica
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
SYDNEY, Australia - Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica
said Tuesday they have collected mysterious creatures including giant sea
spiders and huge worms in the murky depths.
Australian experts taking part in an international program to take a census
of marine life in the ocean at the far south of the world collected
specimens from up to 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) beneath the surface, and said
many may never have been seen before.
Some of the animals far under the sea grow to unusually large sizes, a
phenomenon called gigantism that scientists still do not fully understand.
"Gigantism is very common in Antarctic waters," Martin Riddle, the
Australian Antarctic Division scientist who led the expedition, said in a
statement. "We have collected huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders
the size of dinner plates."
The specimens were being sent to universities and museums around the world
for identification, tissue sampling and DNA studies.
"Not all of the creatures that we found could be identified and it is very
likely that some new species will be recorded as a result of these voyages,"
said Graham Hosie, head of the census project.
The expedition is part of an ambitious international effort to map life
forms in the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, and to study
the impact of forces such as climate change on the undersea environment.
Three ships - Aurora Australis from Australia, France's L'Astrolabe and
Japan's Umitaka Maru - returned recently from two months in the region as
part of the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine Census. The work is part of
a larger project to map the biodiversity of the world's oceans.
The French and Japanese ships sought specimens from the mid- and upper-level
environment, while the Australian ship plumbed deeper waters with
remote-controlled cameras.
"In some places every inch of the sea floor is covered in life," Riddle
said. "In other places we can see deep scars and gouges where icebergs scour
the sea floor as they pass by."
Among the bizarre-looking creatures the scientists spotted were tunicates,
plankton-eating animals that resemble slender glass structures up to a meter
(yard) tall "standing in fields like poppies," Riddle said.
Other animals were equally baffling.
"They had fins in various places, they had funny dangly bits around their
mouths," Riddle told reporters. "They were all bottom dwellers so they were
all evolved in different ways to live down on the sea bed in the dark. So
many of them had very large eyes _ very strange looking fish."
Scientists are planning a follow-up expedition in 10 to 15 years to examine
the effects of climate changes on the region's environment.
Freakishly Large Sea Creatures Found Near Antarctica
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
SYDNEY, Australia - Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica
said Tuesday they have collected mysterious creatures including giant sea
spiders and huge worms in the murky depths.
Australian experts taking part in an international program to take a census
of marine life in the ocean at the far south of the world collected
specimens from up to 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) beneath the surface, and said
many may never have been seen before.
Some of the animals far under the sea grow to unusually large sizes, a
phenomenon called gigantism that scientists still do not fully understand.
"Gigantism is very common in Antarctic waters," Martin Riddle, the
Australian Antarctic Division scientist who led the expedition, said in a
statement. "We have collected huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders
the size of dinner plates."
The specimens were being sent to universities and museums around the world
for identification, tissue sampling and DNA studies.
"Not all of the creatures that we found could be identified and it is very
likely that some new species will be recorded as a result of these voyages,"
said Graham Hosie, head of the census project.
The expedition is part of an ambitious international effort to map life
forms in the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, and to study
the impact of forces such as climate change on the undersea environment.
Three ships - Aurora Australis from Australia, France's L'Astrolabe and
Japan's Umitaka Maru - returned recently from two months in the region as
part of the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine Census. The work is part of
a larger project to map the biodiversity of the world's oceans.
The French and Japanese ships sought specimens from the mid- and upper-level
environment, while the Australian ship plumbed deeper waters with
remote-controlled cameras.
"In some places every inch of the sea floor is covered in life," Riddle
said. "In other places we can see deep scars and gouges where icebergs scour
the sea floor as they pass by."
Among the bizarre-looking creatures the scientists spotted were tunicates,
plankton-eating animals that resemble slender glass structures up to a meter
(yard) tall "standing in fields like poppies," Riddle said.
Other animals were equally baffling.
"They had fins in various places, they had funny dangly bits around their
mouths," Riddle told reporters. "They were all bottom dwellers so they were
all evolved in different ways to live down on the sea bed in the dark. So
many of them had very large eyes _ very strange looking fish."
Scientists are planning a follow-up expedition in 10 to 15 years to examine
the effects of climate changes on the region's environment.
