The previously unknown creatures include crustaceans, molluscs, free-swimming worms and carnivorous sponges.
The number of discoveries surprised the international group of scientists working on the project. 'The general pattern is that life decreases if you go to the deep sea because you have less food and less light,' said team member Katrin Linse, of British Antarctic Survey.
'Actually we have found the opposite pattern. What was once thought to be an abyss is a dynamic, variable and biologically rich environment.'
Trawls between 700m and 6.5km, for instance, yielded 585 new types of isopods (crustaceans similar to terrestrial woodlice), to add to the 371 Antarctic species previously recorded. Larger creatures included sea spiders the size of dinner plates and deep-sea octopus around 40cm long.
Another researcher, Angelika Brandt of the University of Hamburg's Zoological Institute, said the Antarctic could have been the 'cradle of life of the global marine species'. Many of the species found there are genetically linked to species found as far away as the tropics - and are more like the earliest examples of those species than any other creatures found around the world.
Another area of interest is how Antarctic species adapted to changes in climate and ice coverage. The scientists are still working on the special changes and evolutionary timescales involved
The expedition was the third part of a co-ordinated programme of voyages to the Antarctic aboard the research vessel Polarstern. A report on the programme has just been published by Nature. |
