Until now, a very rich marine life was hidden in the dark, cold ocean beneath Antarctica's ice.
Researchers were only able to speculate about the secrets of deep sea life in this remote region of
our planet.
For the first time due to the more recent retreat of the ice masses over the past decades,
researchers could begin to catalog wildlife of Antarctica's deep sea.
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As a great help, explorers have the UK's deep-sea remote vessel (ROV) named Isis which is conducting
a diving activity beneath the seventh continent's ice at the depth of 3.5km (2.2 miles).
However Isis is capable of diving even much deeper up to 6,500m and is able to withstand enormous
deep sea pressures.
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Isis measures 2.7m (9ft) long, 2m (6.5ft) high and 1.5m (5ft) wide, and weighs about 3,000kg (6,600lb) in the air.
The diving vessel is equipped with sonars for acoustic navigation and imaging,
cameras producing high-quality videos and two remotely controlled manipulator arms to collect samples.
Isis vessel is lifting inboard
The ROV - Isis is placed aboard the British Antarctic Survey's ship - the RSS James Clark Ross and
during its diving activities beneath the ice is connected with its mothership by ten kilometers
long cable.
RSS James Clark Ross - Isis' mothership
The vessel makes an extraordinary job by imaging a great diversity of life species both new and
those known only theoretically.
A great numbers of data about king crabs, coral, jellyfish, sea anemones, large creatures like
sea cucumbers and orange sea stars has been collected.
All collected specimens will be analyzed by the researchers who have a primary goal:
to survey indigenous life-forms and all creatures that had moved in to the area after
the large area of Antarctic ice known as Larsen B ice shelf collapsed in March 2002 as well.
Larsen B ice shelf collapsing
Nature must adapt to new environment and in fact is doing this well.
Read more about Deep Sea Unique Life in our section
Unique Life
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See also: Antarctica And Lake Vostok
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"Some creatures make humans look like feeble also-rans. Thriving in the harshest habitats on the
planet, organisms like these may have been the first on Earth and others may live elsewhere in
the Solar System. BEING boiled alive, baked under a desert sun, chilled to the bone or bathed in
acid-it's our idea of hell. But thousands of oddball creatures like nothing better. They've been
found in the most unlikely places..."
