Scientists have discovered life under the Antarctic ice shelf, where it was previously thought that nothing could survive. The discovery was made by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), who inadvertently fell to the stopped animals while collecting sediment samples. The sponge-like animals, including several potentially unknown species, were found in total darkness and with a temperature of -2.2 degrees Celcius about 260 km away from the open ocean.
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“Our discovery raises so many more questions than it answers, such as how did they get there? What are they eating? How long have they been there? How common are the These boulders covered in life? Are they the only species we see outside? the ice shelf or are they new species? And what would happen to these communities if they fell? the ice shelf? “Dr Huw Griffiths of BAS said in a press release.
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‘Breaking All the Rules: The First Benthic Community of Hard Substratum Under Antarctic Ice Shelf’ – Huw J. Griffiths, Paul Anker, Katrin Linse, Jamie Maxwell, Alexandra L. Post, Craig Stevens, Slawek Tulaczyk & James A. Smith: https://t.co/qoWpSa4ME0 pic.twitter.com/ZXpMkN1iO8
– British Antarctic Survey (@BAS_News) February 15, 2021
‘Proving previous theories’
The South Sea ice shelves represent the largest unexplored area as only the size of a tennis court size has been studied to date, of the 1.5 million square kilometers of Antarctic continental shelf. This is the first ever record of a hard substrate (boulder) community deep beneath an ice shelf and seems to contradict all previous theories about the possible types of life. to live there.
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Life under Antarctic ice shelves came as a surprise when scientists discovered strange creatures wrapped around a boulder as living organisms become scarce further away from the open ocean due to the lack of sunlight. The discovery of sponges, which are a breeding organism and only survive in open waters, was even more surprising when found under the Antarctic ice shelf as they rely on food from above, which they then random from the water.
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