Potential New Species in Antarctica

Scientists have found orange sea stars, fan-finned ice fish and herds of roving sea cucumbers are among the exotic creatures found off the Antarctic coast in an area formerly covered by ice. This is the first time explorers have been able to catalog wildlife where two big ice shelves used to extend for some 3,900 square miles over the Weddell Sea. At least 5,000 years old, the ice shelves collapsed in two stages over the last dozen years. One crumbled 12 years ago and the other followed in 2002. Looking down 2,800 feet into the icy water -- a comparatively shallow depth -- they found fauna usually associated with seabeds about three times that deep, in places where the creatures must adapt to scarcity to survive.

There were blue ice fish, with dorsal fins like ribbed fans and blood that lacks red cells, an adaptation that makes the blood more fluid and easier to pump through the animal's body, conserving energy at low temperatures. Long-limbed sea stars, some with more than the usual five appendages, mingled with the ice fish, and groups of sea cucumbers were observed moving together, all in one direction.

The explorers also found thick settlements of fast-growing animals called sea squirts, which look like gelatinous bags, which apparently started colonizing the area only after the ice shelves collapsed.

Among the hundreds of specimens collected, the scientists identified 15 possible new species of shrimp-like amphipods, and four possible new species of cnidarians, organisms related to coral, jellyfish and sea anemones, the scientists said in a statement.

Below are some pictures from the expedition:

The Antarctic ice fish has no red blood pigments or red blood cells. This adaptation to the frigid environment allows it to use less energy to pump blood through its body:



This sea star is unusual because of its 12 spindly arms, instead of the normal five:



This giant amphipod crustacean is one of several potentially new species found by the expedition. Further testing will be conducted to determine whether the creature is actually a new species. This amphipod is 10 centimeters long, larger than similar species in more temperate waters:



This potentially new species of Epimeria is 25 millimeters long. It was found near Elephant Island off the Antarctic Peninsula:



Deep-sea cucumbers make their way along on the relatively shallow sea floor, about 2,800 feet below the surface. The creatures are normally found at depths around 6,500 feet:



A male pycnogonid (sea spider) carries its eggs. The eight-legged creature is a marine distant relative of spiders:



Antarctic barnacles were found at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula: