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During an exploratory survey, researchers drilled through 900 meters of ice in the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, located on the southeastern Weddell Sea. Very few species have ever been observed under these environments at a distance of 260 km from the open ocean, in total darkness and with temperatures of -2.2 ° C.
More than what they were expecting
The purpose of the mission is to gather sediment samples. Yet, this work ended up being the first to discover the presence of stationary creatures clinging to a rock on the seafloor - close to sponges and possibly other previously unknown species.
"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 Dr. Huw Griffiths, biogeographer and lead author of the British Antarctic Survey.