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The Guardian - UK

Environment

Matthew Taylor

First images of creatures from Antarctic depths revealed

Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in Hope Bay, the Antarctic Sound. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

The images below are the first of creatures found in a previously unexplored region of the Antarctic seabed offering a fascinating glimpse of life in one of the most remote and pristine places on the planet.

Greenpeace ship the Arctic Sunrise in Charlotte Bay. Greenpeace’s three-month expedition to the Antarctic will see it carry out scientific research, including seafloor submarine dives and sampling for plastic pollution, to highlight the urgent need for the creation of a 1.8m sq km Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

The rare species were found by Dr Susanne Lockhart, an Antarctic biologist who visited the seafloor in a submarine last month as part of a scientific expedition organised by campaigning organisation Greenpeace.

Now they are being transported back to the laboratory where they – and hours of footage taken from the submarine – will be examined to reveal the secrets of this unexplored underwater world. It is hoped that some of the samples collected may prove to be new species.

Lockhart said the findings hold “great significance for the future of the Southern Ocean.”

Dr Susanne Lockhart and submarine pilot John Hocevar diving in a submarine outside Kaiser Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctic Peninsula. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

“By identifying vulnerable marine ecosystems and registering their locations with CCAMLR (the body set up to manage Antarctic marine life), they can then be incorporated into the mathematical models that are being used to help generate Marine Protected Areas for this region.”

She added: “Therefore, not only is it important for us to learn and understand the invertebrate communities that live on the sea floor around Antarctica but these discoveries can then be used directly to help protect the ecosystem as a whole.”

Underwater Antarctic submarine image. Photograph: Greenpeace

The submarine footage will be examined to reveal the secrets of this unexplored are of the Antarctic — The submarine footage will be examined to reveal the secrets of this unexplored area of the Antarctic. Photograph: Greenpeace

Antarctic biologist Dr Susanne Lockhart examines a crustacean under a digital microscope — Antarctic biologist Dr Susanne Lockhart examines an antarcturid isopod (crustacean) under a digital microscope, collected from a submarine dive in Gerlache Strait, the Antarctic. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

“Furthermore, maintaining a healthy krill population is as important for the marine invertebrates of Antarctica as it is for the penguins, seals and seabirds,” Lockhart added.

She said she had “found an incredible diversity of animal life on the seafloor.”

A dropstone specimen collected from a submarine dive — A dropstone specimen collected from a dive with a submarine in Chiriguano bay, south of Brabante Island in Gerlache Strait, the Antarctic. Stones dropped by glaciers and icebergs – termed dropstones – provide a hard substrate for organisms to attach to. Attached to this dropstone are a variety of bryozoan and hydroid species, bottle-brush primnoid corals (*Thourella sp.*), hexactinellid glass sponges and yellow colonial ascidians. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

Lockhart examines a bryozoan under the microscope, collected from a submarine dive in Gerlache Strait. Bryozoans are colonial organisms that produce a hard skeleton in a similar way that tropical corals do. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

“The range of colors and species diversity in certain important groups such as the soft and gorgonian corals and the colonial tunicates (or sea squirts) were truly spectacular.

“Bryozoans and hydroids also carpet the seabed, making it look like a wondrous garden. Feather stars and their relatives decorate enormous vase shaped glass sponges. And icefish and octopus can be found hiding if you look carefully enough. Even the water column was teeming with a surprising diversity of life.”

A comatulid feather star collected from a submarine dive off Brabant Island, Gerlache Strait, at around 420 meters depth. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

A comatulid feather star collected at a depth of about 420 meters

Lockhart said the findings had left her “more excited than at any time in her 25 years as an Antarctic biologist.”

“I can now see first-hand what I have been studying for so many years,” she said.

A polynoid polychaete worm collected off Lecointe Island, Gerlache Strait, at a depth of about 560m. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

A dead gorgonian coral skeleton provides substrate and habitat for many other species including zoanthid polyps, antarcturid isopods (crustaceans), demosponges hexactinellid glass sponges and tube-dwelling polychaete worms. All collected off Lecointe Island. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

A hexactinellid sponge, a sample specimen collected from in Half Moon Bay, outside Livingston Island in the Antarctic. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

A pycnogonid sea spider from a depth of about 560m off Lecointe Island. Although this specimen spans approx. 6cm, some Antarctic sea spider species can grow to the size of a dinner plate. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

The Antarctic sea urchin, Sterechinus, found at about 300m depth at Kinnes Cove in the Antarctic Sound. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

The Antarctic feather star, Promachocrinus kerguelensis, found at approximately 300m depth at Kinnes Kinnes Cove, Antarctic Sound — The Antarctic feather star, *Promachocrinus kerguelensis*, found at approximately 300m depth at Kinnes Kinnes Cove, Antarctic Sound. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

Humpback whales breach the surface in Hope Bay, Antarctica. Photograph: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

Will McCallum of Greenpeace’s Protect the Antarctic campaign, said survey showed the Antarctic seafloor was “bursting with a stunning diversity of life and colour, from tiny sea spiders, to feather stars, worms, krill and rare corals and sponges.”

“We know so little about this precious ecosystem and we hope that our work with an Antarctic seafloor specialist, diving to the depths to collect crucial footage and specimens, can help provide the evidence of the need to secure strong protection for huge swathes of the Antarctic, including a vast 1.8m sq km Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary.”