Breadcrumbs

'Lost world' discovered around Antarctic vents

04 Jan 2012

A group of researchers led by Somerville College Fellow and Tutor, Professor Alex Rogers, have discovered communities of species previously unknown to science.

Using a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) on the seafloor, scientists have for the first time been able to explore the East Scotia Ridge deep beneath the Southern Ocean, where hydrothermal vents create a unique environment lacking sunlight but rich in certain chemicals. The hot, dark environment surrounding the vents is now known to be home to new species of yeti crab, starfish, barnacles, and sea anemones, and even a previously undiscovered species of octopus.

Highlights from the ROV dives include images showing huge colonies of the new species of yeti crab, thought to dominate the Antarctic vent ecosystem, clustered around vent chimneys. Elsewhere the ROV spotted numbers of an undescribed predatory seastar with seven arms crawling across fields of stalked barnacles and found an unidentified pale octopus nearly 2,400 metres down on the seafloor.

‘What we didn't find is almost as surprising as what we did,' said Professor Rogers. ‘Many animals such as tubeworms, vent mussels, vent crabs, and vent shrimps, found in hydrothermal vents in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, simply weren't there.'

The team believes that the differences between the groups of animals found around the Antarctic vents and those found around vents elsewhere suggest that the Southern Ocean may act as a barrier to some vent animals. The unique species of the East Scotia Ridge also suggest that, globally, vent ecosystems may be much more diverse, and their interactions more complex, than previously thought.

In April 2011 Somerville College hosted an international panel of marine scientists to consider the latest research on the world's oceans. A preliminary report from the panel in June warned that the world's oceans are at risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.

‘These findings are yet more evidence of the precious diversity to be found throughout the world's oceans,' Professor Rogers says. ‘Everywhere we look, whether it is in the sunlit coral reefs of tropical waters or these Antarctic vents shrouded in eternal darkness, we find unique ecosystems that we need to understand and protect.'

A report of the research is published in PLoS Biology.

Oxford University news

BBC news