‘Hidden Marine world’ discovered in Antarctica

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Scientists recently discovered the existence of a hidden world of marine life under an ice shelf in Antarctica. The discovery was made 500m beneath Antarctic ice.

The revelation happened when a team of esteemed scientists from New Zealand was busy observing an estuary, located hundreds of kilometers away from the largest Ross Ice Shelf  in Antarctica and its role in melting of ice due to climate change. Intrigued to discover more, the scientists drilled a hole into the ice. After about half a kilometer, the attached cameras caught a movement, which when put under camera focus, turned out to be be shrimp like creatures.

Craig Stevens from New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospherics said,“For a while, we thought something was wrong with the camera, but when the focus improved, we noticed a swarm of arthropods around 5mm in size.” He further added, “We’ve done experiments in other parts of the ice shelf and thought we had a handle on things, but this time big surprises were thrown up.”

The creatures are believed to be from the same familia as some marine organisms like crabs, lobsters, and mites.

The unexpected discovery left the scientists amazed. Huw Horgan, the leader of the project, said, “We were jumping up and down because having all those animals swimming around our equipment means that there’s clearly an important ecosystem there.”

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