ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Science → Biology

Researchers discover unexpected creatures beneath Antarctica’s ice shelves

There's more life than we expected in the Antarctic.

Mihai AndreibyMihai Andrei
February 15, 2021
in Biology
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

When researchers are drilling almost one kilometer of ice, they’re not expecting to find all that much life. But in a recent survey in the Weddell Sea in Antarctica, they came across multiple life forms living in complete darkness, at temperatures of -2.2°C (28 °F)

“This discovery is one of those fortunate accidents that pushes ideas in a different direction and shows us that Antarctic marine life is incredibly special and amazingly adapted to a frozen world,” says biogeographer and lead author, Dr. Huw Griffiths of British Antarctic Survey.

Breaking all the rules

Antarctica is the world’s harshest continent, and yet life seems to find a way even in these conditions. Few creatures can survive in Antarctica in the first place, but to do it in such hellish conditions is truly stunning. This is the first study to find stationary animals attached to a boulder on the Antarctic seafloor, the authors say, and they’re “breaking all the rules.”

Researchers found several sponge-like species, including some species previously unknown to science. It’s very unlikely that they just got lucky and hit the needle in the Antarctic haystack — the one place where such animals happen to survive in these conditions. Instead, Griffiths says, there’s probably much more like this waiting to be discovered.

“There appear to be at least three species present in the images, possibly more. Given that this is the first record of a hard substrate community observed from a habitat that covers 1.6 million km2 then I would be very surprised if we had been lucky enough to find all the species on a single boulder, so I would expect that there are many more waiting to be found,” Griffiths told ZME Science.

We don’t yet know much about these species, and in a way, their discovery seems to pose more questions than it answers. They appear to be a group of unpretentious filter-feeders — creatures that feed by straining suspended matter (food) from the water. But where does their food even come from, and how common are these life forms? Since it’s so dark, there can’t be any talk of photosynthesis, and there doesn’t seem to be any hydrothermal vent, so Griffiths suspects the food comes from farther away.

“From looking at the video it appears to be a filter-feeding community, obviously this community must be able to cope with less food than others elsewhere. There are no obvious signs of chemosynthesis, these sponges are not the typical hydrothermal vent or methane seep fauna and the water temperatures are very cold. As far as we know the most likely source of food is what washed in from beyond the ice shelf by the currents, but this requires further investigation,” Griffiths added in an email.

British Antarctic Survey camera travelling down the 900-meter-long bore hole in the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. (Marine creature pictured is unrelated to the discovery). Image credits: Dr Huw Griffiths/British Antarctic Survey.

Tantalizing information for life on Earth and beyond

The discovery of an established community on a boulder 260 km from the ice raises “significant questions,” the researchers note, forcing us to rethink what we think about how life survives under ice shelves. The findings have wide implications not just in regards to creatures inhabiting the Earth now, but also to creatures that lived hundreds of millions of years ago, in a period called the “snowball earth” — and even for potential life on frozen bodies such as Jupiter’s satellite Europa.

The problem is further complicated by the fact that these creatures are filter-feeders. Filter-feeders depend on a supply of food from above, so they are among the first to disappear as you move away from open water and sunlight. Yet, here they are, probably covering large habitats, showing just how much we’ve still yet to learn about these extreme environments.

“Ice shelves cover roughly a third of the Antarctic’s 5 million km2 continental shelf and the Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf [where the creatures were found] covers around 420,000 km2, so these environments are surprisingly common but we know virtually nothing about them. Finding filter feeding animals so far from their food source shows us that life beneath ice shelves is more resilient and widespread than we expected.”

Now, researchers will continue to study these creatures and see what they can understand about these extremophilic communities. But they also leave a warning: we may end up destroying these communities before we even truly understand them. Despite being remarkably well adapted for the cold, they are vulnerable to the global heating that could wreck their entire ecosystem.

RelatedPosts

Astronomers may have discovered a new cosmic phenomena — and we don’t really know what it is
Elon Musk unveils the ITS: a spaceship capable of carrying 100 people destined to settle Mars
This Startup Is Using Ancient DNA to Recreate Perfumes from Extinct Flowers
NASA beamed back a laser message from half a billion kilometers away 100 times faster than using radio waves

“If these communities turn out to be new species, only found under ice shelves then this would make them very vulnerable to climate change and ice shelf collapse, which could destroy their entire habitat in the future,” Griffiths concludes.

Journal Reference: Griffiths et al (2021). Breaking All the Rules: The First Recorded Hard Substrate Sessile Benthic Community Far Beneath an Antarctic Ice Shelf. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.642040

ShareTweetShare
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Dr. Andrei Mihai is a geophysicist and founder of ZME Science. He has a Ph.D. in geophysics and archaeology and has completed courses from prestigious universities (with programs ranging from climate and astronomy to chemistry and geology). He is passionate about making research more accessible to everyone and communicating news and features to a broad audience.

Related Posts

Future

China Resurrected an Abandoned Soviet ‘Sea Monster’ That’s Part Airplane, Part Hovercraft

byTibi Puiu
12 hours ago
great white shark
Animals

This Shark Expert Has Spent Decades Studying Attacks and Says We’ve Been Afraid for the Wrong Reasons

byJordan Strickler
15 hours ago
Agriculture

A Rocket Carried Cannabis Seeds and 166 Human Remains into Space But Their Capsule Never Made It Back

byTudor Tarita
15 hours ago
News

Ancient ‘Zombie’ Fungus Trapped in Amber Shows Mind Control Began in the Age of the Dinosaurs

byMihai Andrei
15 hours ago

Recent news

China Resurrected an Abandoned Soviet ‘Sea Monster’ That’s Part Airplane, Part Hovercraft

June 30, 2025
great white shark

This Shark Expert Has Spent Decades Studying Attacks and Says We’ve Been Afraid for the Wrong Reasons

June 30, 2025

A Rocket Carried Cannabis Seeds and 166 Human Remains into Space But Their Capsule Never Made It Back

June 30, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.