Posted on 03/23/2008 10:10:39 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Scientists find giant marine life in Antarctic sea survey
By RAY LILLEY,Associated Press Writer
AP - Friday, March 21
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Scientists found that some marine life doesn't come small in Antarctic waters, with giant-sized specimens surprising researchers during a major survey of New Zealand's Antarctic seas that ended this week.
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Huge sea snails, jellyfish with tentacles up to 4 meters (yards) long and starfish the size of big food platters were some of the species found during research vessel Tangaroa's 50-day, 3,200-kilometer (2,000-mile) voyage in the Ross Sea, New Zealand marine scientist Don Robertson said.
"I would say there will be hundreds" of previously unknown organisms and "a lot of new species" among the 30,000 specimens collected, Robertson said.
Cold temperatures, low predator numbers, high levels of oxygen in the seawater and even longevity could explain the size of some specimens, said Robertson, a science manager with New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, or NIWA.
Robertson's team said their Ross Sea survey was the most comprehensive so far.
It is part of the International Polar Year program involving 23 countries and ten other voyages to survey marine life and habitats around the frozen southern continent. The survey voyages are expected to be complete in July 2009.
Going through the 30,000 specimens from the Ross Sea survey alone could take an additional two years, and any potentially new species must be sent to experts for confirmation.
Survey member Stefano Schiaparelli, a mollusk specialist at Italy's National Antarctic Museum in Genoa, said researchers found many new species and "marine communities" never seen before.
"This is a new brick in the wall of Antarctic knowledge," he said.
Schiaparelli said at least eight new mollusks and a range of new invertebrates had been found on sea mounts, or undersea mountains, off the northern Antarctic coast.
NIWA fisheries scientist Stu Hanchet said there were possibly eight new species among the "90-odd species of fish caught altogether."
"That is exciting and that is something that will grab the world in terms of fish biology," he told The Associated Press.
The researchers sampled every level of water from the surface to the sea floor up to 3,500 meters (11,550 feet) below _ and all creatures in between.
One of the surprises was fields of half-meter- (20-inch-) high sea lilies stretching for hundreds of meters (yards) across the sea floor.
"Some of these big meadows of sea lilies I don't think anybody has seen before," Hanchet said.
Survey member Chris Jones, a U.S. fisheries scientist with the Antarctic research division of NOAA Fisheries Service in California, said it's "exciting when you come across a new species _ all the fish people go nuts about that _ but you have to take it with a grain of salt."
"It needs to undergo quite a bit of analysis ... before you can say 'Boom, this is definitely (new),'" he said.
Standout issue for Jones were the lack of fish diversity found in sea mount areas "where we expected a wealth of diversity of fish. But, surprisingly, there were only two or three species."
"We kept catching the same fish _ abundantly," he said.
New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries scientist Mary Livingston, who took no part in the survey, described the suspected new species finds as "really fantastic," adding that it was "almost inevitable" that they find new ones given how little is known about Antarctic waters.
"Doing this census really has been a voyage of discovery," she said.
Ping!
Fascinating stuff, but it reminds me that we know exactly what the weather will be like in 100 years, thanks to the global warming alamists, but are constantly surprised by what’s right under our noses. Heh.
I am always impressed with how much we don’t know as scientists and naturalists. New species are found in just one voyage. And I am always skeptical when the hand wringers wail about species becoming extinct. How do they know?
Next week, after the excitement of discovery has calmed down, we will be scolded one more time about all the species that are being “driven to the edge of extinction”, and the “thousands” of species that man drove into extinction by his selfish pollution and drilling for oil.
Sheesh, I wish that more people would catch on to this giant scam we are all victims of.
Those scientist might not want to disturb some of the creatures down there too much.
Cold temperatures, low predator numbers, high levels of oxygen in the seawater and even longevity could explain the size of some specimens, said Robertson ....
In the earliest days of California, there were tons of sea otters along the coast. As far as I can make out, in all probability, abalone (a sumptuously delectable snail of incredible food value that lives in coastal waters) typically never got more than five or six inches across, if that.
Then the Russian hunters came down and harvested all those otters -- killed them and skinned them and sold to furriers their incredible, incredible pelts. If you've never actually run your fingers through sea otter fur, the critter alive or dead, you can't imagine how dense it is. It is the most wonderful stuff imaginable and in cold weather would be a person's very valuable tool for survival. I can imagine that sea otter pelts would be worth a lot of money. I expect such fur always will be as long as man draws breath.
That was long before much of the California coast was populated; the otters were hunted all the way out of existence. As a result, the abalone grew ... and grew... and grew and grew and grew to become nearly bucket-sized gems of food. I don't know the actual numbers, but it's a decent guess that sports divers were limited to around six or seven inches (knock off the Viagra remarks, please!), and commercial divers eight or nine inches across -- I think, not sure, but probably around that. Abalone divers survived and supported whole families for generations. Abalone itself was cheap. They're snails and nearly invisible, can live in deep water in crevices, and take a lot of trouble to get. It must have been an interesting and purely wild way to make a living!
Anyhoo, sea otters suddenly appeared along the central coast in the what, mid 1960s, and repopulated rapidly. In some places, the entire commercial abalone industry virtually disappeared within five years of the otters' appearance. They're about the only other predator in the sea, other than a human diver with lots of air and fortitude, that can dig and get at abalone in all ways. And they eat enormous amounts of them. One sea otter eats something like a third of its weight a day in shellfish and fish, pure protein (I know some skinny people like that!). I suppose they'd have to, just to metabolize to stay warm and build that incredible pelt.
So the size of the abalone available has changed hugely because of a change in predators. The lifestyles of people on the coast have changed, too. Abalone steak was cheap and plentiful once, a superior source of protein and food value that made healthy bodies and minds and sustained people well; today it's a rare delectible that is on a part with and probably beyond lobster as to high market price and availability.
Change is guaranteed, always, at all times in all ways, when life is at play. We are placed by God as part of the natural world, not apart from it! The global warming scare is an illusion made from vanity and ignorance.
[Survey member Chris Jones, a U.S. fisheries scientist with the Antarctic research division of NOAA Fisheries Service in California, said it’s “exciting when you come across a new species _ all the fish people go nuts about that _ but you have to take it with a grain of salt.”]
Along with a little oil and other seasonings in your frying pan.
The same way they know man is influencing weather in negative manner. They feel, damn the facts.
I am one of those skinny people, but i lack the pelt. LOL
(I know some skinny people like that!). I suppose they’d have to, just to metabolize to stay warm and build that incredible pelt.
Your point is one of those who moved the cheese moments in nature, man just needs to adapt.
Ah .... with respect, excuse, please. Man just needs to adapt?
Why man? Why not the proteected sea otter, and the protected seals, and the protected sea lions? They eat thousands of tons of fish every day and are so populous that they've literally taken over docks and beaches along the California coast that were much different 45 years ago, and when commercial seafood industries flourished and there were still plenty of (unprotected) sea lions and seals (no otters) so that you'd often see them.
My actual point is that we're as natural as the otter and frankly, higher on the food chain. Let them do the adapting.
Nature will correct the imbalance in time.
Man would except we have to deal with curious creature known as “enviro-wackos”.
Enviro-wackos know what is best for all Gaia’s creatures and Mother Earth. They are willing to allow great suffering and strife, all in the name of preserving the great Gaia and mother earth.
They believe that man is a parasite living off the great Gaia and her creatures.
Excuse my rant.
Yes we are as natural as any other living creature, except that enviro-weenies/wackos see us either as weeds or parasites.
I should have finished my thought and said that we needed to adapt to the enviros perception of the world.
Never freep when there is alcohol close to hand, causing great cloudiness of thoughts. LOL
Happy Easter
W
I love that! I understand, and raise a toast, though mine is dealcoholized champagne (not carbonated grape juice). I LIKED your "rant," and didn't think it was a rant, anyway! I'm the one who's been ranting today. The global warming thing, at least, is a source of great amusement, don't you figure? I'll bet you know, as I do, people who so good-naturedly with such good intentions, buy into it with zero critical thinking! It's comical. I remember two professional women looking knowingly at each other one hot summer a few years ago when I joked, "Global warming!" *sigh* These are gals who think eating meat is mean. Wackos are "curious creatures," aren't they?
I raise a glass of my drink to yours.
I will not go a ranting about GW, I too find too little critical thinking.
I just walk away, knowing that no matter what I say they will continue to FEEL they are correct.Regardless of the facts.
Life is too short for such foolishness or to argue with such fools.
However I will tweak the more vocal wackos, just for fun.
Still no pictures!
thanks, bfl
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