Swarms of Crab-Like Creatures Found in River 1,600ft Beneath Antarctic Ice
Robyn White - 4h ago
Swarms of crab-like creatures have been found in a river 1,600 feet beneath the ice in Antarctica.
The discovery was a surprise to a team of New Zealand researchers, who were in Antarctica to study a river, hundreds of kilometers from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf, to see how it is impacted by the changing climate.
As the scientists drilled down into the river with a camera, they unexpectedly discovered swarms of the small amphipods, according to a press release—a creature in the same family as crabs, mites and lobsters.
Professor Craig Stevens, a NIWA Physical Oceanographer taking part in the expedition, said in a press release that it was a "big surprise."
"For a while, we thought something was wrong with the camera but when the focus improved, we noticed a swarm of arthropods around 5mm in size," he said. "We were jumping up and down because having all those animals swimming around our equipment means that there's clearly an important ecosystem there. We've taken some water samples back to the lab to look at the DNA and other properties of the water to see what makes it unique, as we were observing something not seen in other systems close by."
More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/swarms-of-crab-like-creatures-found-in-river-1-600ft-beneath-antarctic-ice/ar-AAYb4dn