Discovery of "Filter-feeding animals" under the ice shelves in Antarctica
A group of researchers undertaking a survey in Antarctica have suddenly discovered some interesting organisms living under a huge ice shelf on the south-eastern Weddell Sea at temperatures of -2 °C. Famous Bio-geographer Huw Griffiths of the British Antarctic Survey team made this discovery while taking photographs at the 'Filchner-Ronne' Ice Shelf with his team. Recently, a short video on Twitter was posted by the British Antarctic Survey team, where Griffiths discussed in detail his remarkable findings. Animals like fish, worms, and jellyfish (Cnidarian) were previously found under the ice shelf in the region. But what Griffiths and his team discovered was a 'filter feeder' animals which are considered hemichordates. Griffiths stated that what they found was quite surprising because they have never expected such kind of animals that filter feed their food from the water column making mucus cords! Even they were found far from a source of food at the freezing temperature. The research team used some special cameras to take photographs of the specimens by placing the camera under the ice shelves. The research revealed that humans do not know how much area is currently under the ice shelves of the Antarctic continent and what kind of new animals are there. They identified stalked sponges, 22 unidentified stalked organisms that may be sponges or other animals, such as barnacles, cnidarian, or polychaetes along with filter feeders. The prestigious research journal "Frontiers in Marine Science" has now published the report. Detailed details of the animals and how they were discovered under 890 meters of ice were revealed.
