Thursday, February 21, 2008

More Wierdness from the World's Oceans

Now that we've seen the Yeti crab, "Giant sea creatures, including sea spiders the size of dinner plates and jellyfish with six-metre long tentacles, have been found by Australian scientists in the deep waters around Antarctica.
Huge worms and giant crustaceans have been filmed during an expedition which
trawled the floor of the Southern Ocean almost a mile below the
surface. Many of the animals could not be identified and are to be sent
to labs, possibly to be classed as newly discovered species."[The Guardian]
the expedition was lead by Dr. Martin Riddle, and found some fascinating creatures:

Brightly coloured coralline, bryozoans and
sponges sit on the ocean floor at a depth of about 600 metres (1970
feet) on the Antarctic continental shelf are shown in this handout
image made available on February 19, 2008. Scientists studying
Antarctic waters have filmed and captured giant sea creatures and an
unknown species of sea life. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)



Animals known as tunicates which
look like metre-tall glass tulips sit on the ocean floor at a depth of
about 220 metres (722 feet) on the Antarctic continental shelf are
shown in this handout image made available on February 19, 2008.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)



Sponges, gorgonians and lace
corals sit on the ocean floor at a depth of about 400 metres (1310
feet) on the Antarctic continental shelf in this handout image made
available on February 19, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)


(all images from the Xinhua website) The CBC's coverage is roughly similar.You can get an idea of what the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine Census is up to in this PDF. And the CAML (Census of Antarctic Marine Life) website has some interesting video footage as well.

We are in the middle of the International Polar Year: "
The International Polar Year is a large scientific programme focused on the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009."

There's some video footage
here, and the Australian Antarctic Division press release is here.

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