Marine ecosystems located beneath Antarctica’s thick ice sheet continue to remain a mystery to the scientific world. During a mission conducted beneath the Ross Ice Shelf, researchers discovered an unexpected, complex living species.
Sea-news.az reports that the discovery was made possible through a test borehole drilled 183 meters deep into the Ross Ice Shelf by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
A special depth camera developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) observed the pitch-black and freezing marine environment for the first time. In an area where only microorganisms were expected to exist, the camera recorded a small crustacean—an amphipod belonging to the Lysianassidae family. The swimming of such a higher marine creature in an environment about 32 kilometers away from the open ocean, where sunlight never reaches, is considered a sensation for scientists.
Glaciologist Robert Bindschadler stated that the creature, displaying interesting behavior, revolved around the camera cable and examined the device from various angles. Furthermore, jellyfish remnants stuck to the cable were also found as the underwater device was being retrieved from the sea, indicating the existence of a complex food chain in the sub-glacial marine ecosystem.
During other marine studies conducted in 2022, amphipod swarms were also discovered in a sub-glacial river at a depth of 500 meters. Scientists are currently investigating how these creatures survive in a sunless environment—at the expense of organic matter brought by deep ocean currents or microbiological processes.
