After analyzing images captured below the Filchner-Ronne ice shelf, in the southeast of the Weddell Sea, in the Antarctic Ocean, scientists at the University of Cambridge found a series of unknown spongy animals clinging to a rock located about 3,000 feet deep.
The Antarctic expedition began in 2016, when a team of geologists traveled to collect sediment samples from the ocean floor in order to observe the ecosystems of the ice platforms. In order to document their research, they installed a GoPro camera shortly after drilling almost one thousand feet through a glacier, gathering footage from the bottom of the icy platform. However, a large stone ended up hindering the process, interrupting procedures.
The film was then taken to Cambridge University and was analyzed by Huw Griffiths, a marine biogeographer from British Antarctic Research, who soon identified life – communities of sponges and other filter feeders that were attached to a huge gray rock. “It’s like finding a piece of rainforest in the middle of the Sahara,” said Griffiths. “This discovery goes against what we hoped to see under ice platforms until now”.
The video amazed researchers considerably, drawing awareness especially due to the harsh conditions of the Antarctic environment, with temperatures well below zero and peaks of 28 ° F, in addition to being immersed in deep darkness. “This is showing us that life is more resilient and robust than we might expect,” explained the biogeographer.
According to scientists, the appearance of spongy creatures is a great mystery to science, mainly because they are located about eight thousand feet away from the open ocean, where there is a greater concentration of food, and between 2,000 to 5,000 feet away from fresh phytoplankton. In addition, the animals were at a depth far below any sources of light, in an area with strong ocean currents. However, since they are filter feeders, the powerful underwater drafts are what keeps them nourished.
Recently, research on this footage continues in full swing, in an attempt to enable scientists uncover more about the feeding and metabolism of such sponges and whether there are more communities of unknown life under the Antarctic ice.
