The image is called "Bryozoanfragmentsdated1536x759.0."
The habitat has blyozoans in it.
The British Antarctic Survey is pictured.
A team of researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany have discovered 77 seafloor-dwelling species beneath an ice shelf.
The environment beneath the floating ice shelves and the seaward extensions of the glaciers is not known. It is a harsh environment shrouded in continuous darkness, and previous studies of life beneath the ice have only documented a few dozen hardy life forms.
The new research, published earlier this month in Current Biology, identified more species in a single spot than had previously been documented across all the ice shelves of the frozen continent. The Ekstrm Ice Shelf is located in the Weddell Sea. According to a press release from the British Antarctic Survey, they found the diversity on this patch of seafloor to be more rich than on the continental shelf where there is light and food sources. Four of the species studied experienced yearly growth rates comparable to similar animals in open water habitats.
The researchers identified two sea creatures, bryozoans and serpulid worms. These organisms are suspension feeders, meaning they sit in one place and grab bits of organic matter that float by. The researchers think they are eating seaweed carried beneath the ice shelf.
David Barnes, the study author, said in a press release that the discovery of so much life living in these extreme conditions is a complete surprise. We found evidence of many animal types, most feed on micro-algae, yet no plants or algae can live in this environment.
The researchers were surprised by how old this icy system is. The researchers discovered that some of the dead animals they collected were more than 5000 years old.
Climate change and the collapse of ice shelves in the South Pole mean that time is running out to study the animals that have been living there for thousands of years.
The researchers wrote that the least disturbed habitat on Earth could be the first to go extinct as a result of global warming.
