(Press-News.org) Contact information: Frank Rack
frack2@unl.edu
402-472-4785
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Ice-loving sea anemones discovered in Antarctica
ANDRILL team discovers new species living beneath the Ross Ice Shelf
Lincoln, Neb., Jan. 16, 2014 -- Using a camera-equipped robot to explore beneath the Ross Ice Shelf off Antarctica, scientists and engineers with the Antarctic Geological Drilling (ANDRILL) Program made an astonishing discovery.
Thousands upon thousands of small sea anemones were burrowed into the underside of the ice shelf, their tentacles protruding into frigid water like flowers on a ceiling.
"The pictures blew my mind," said Marymegan Daly of Ohio State University, who studied the specimens retrieved by ANDRILL team members in Antarctica.
The new species, discovered in late December 2010, was publicly identified for the first time in a recent article in the journal PLoS ONE.
Though other sea anemones have been found in Antarctica, the newly discovered species is the first known to live in ice. They also live upside down, hanging from the ice, compared to other sea anemones that live on or in the sea floor.
The white anemones have been named Edwardsiella andrillae, in honor of the ANDRILL program. The discovery was "total serendipity," said Frank Rack, executive director of the ANDRILL Science Management Office at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and associate professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at UNL.
"When we looked up at the bottom of the ice shelf, there they were," he said.
Scientists had lowered the robot, a 4 1/2-foot cylinder equipped with two cameras, a side-mounted lateral camera and a forward-looking camera with a fish-eye lens, into a hole bored through the 270-meter-thick shelf of ice that extends more than 600 miles northward into the Ross Sea from the grounding zone of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Their mission, financed by the National Science Foundation in the U.S. and the New Zealand Foundation for Research, was to learn more about the ocean currents beneath the ice shelf and provide environmental data for modeling the behavior of the ANDRILL drill string, Rack said. They didn't expect to discover any organisms living in the ice, and surely not an entirely new species.
The discovery indicates that, even after 50 years of active U.S. research, more remains to be studied about the southernmost continent, said Scott Borg, head of the Antarctic Sciences Section in the NSF's Division of Polar Programs.
"Just how the sea anemones create and maintain burrows in the bottom of the ice shelf, while that surface is actively melting, remains an intriguing mystery," he said. "This goes to show how much more we have to learn about the Antarctic and how life there has adapted."
Rack, who is U.S. principal investigator for the environmental surveys that were conducted as part of the international ANDRILL Coulman High project, had left the site just prior to the discovery. He was listening by radio when he heard the report from the robot deployment team -- engineers Bob Zook, Paul Mahecek and Dustin Carroll -- who began shouting as they saw the anemones, which appeared to glow in the camera's light.
"They had found a whole new ecosystem that no one had ever seen before," Rack said. "What started out as a engineering test of the remotely operated vehicle during its first deployment through a thick ice shelf turned into a significant and exciting biological discovery."
In addition to the anemones, the scientists saw fish that routinely swam upside down, the ice shelf serving as the floor of their undersea world. They also saw polychaete worms, amphipods and a creature they dubbed "the eggroll," a 4-inch-long, 1-inch-diameter, neutrally buoyant cylinder that seemed to swim using appendages at both ends of its body. It was observed bumping along the field of sea anemones under the ice and hanging on to them at times.
The anemones measured less than an inch long in their contracted state -- though they get three to four times longer in their relaxed state, Daly said. Each features 20 to 24 tentacles, an inner ring of eight longer tentacles and an outer ring of 12 to 16 tentacles.
After using hot water to stun the creatures, the team used an improvised suction device to retrieve them from their burrows. They were then transported to McMurdo Station for preservation and further study.
Because the team wasn't hunting for biological specimens, they were not equipped with the proper supplies to preserve them for DNA/RNA analyses, Rack said. The anemones were placed in ethanol at the drilling site and some were later preserved in formalin at McMurdo Station.
Many mysteries remain. Though some sea anemones burrow into sand with tentacles or by expanding and deflating the base of their bodies, those strategies don't seem feasible for ice. It is also unclear how they survive without freezing and how they reproduce. There is no evidence of what they eat, although they likely feed on plankton in the water flowing beneath the ice shelf, Daly said.
Rack said a proposal is being prepared for further study of this unusual environment using a robot to explore deeper in the ocean and further from the access hole through the ice. NASA is helping finance the development of the new underwater robot because the Antarctic discoveries have implications for the possibility of life that may exist on Europa, the ice-covered moon of Jupiter.
He said researchers hope to return to Antarctica as early as 2015 to continue studying the sea anemones and other organisms beneath the ice shelf.
INFORMATION:
Ice-loving sea anemones discovered in Antarctica
ANDRILL team discovers new species living beneath the Ross Ice Shelf
2014-01-16
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
NASA catches development of Tropical Cyclone 09S in Southern Indian Ocean
2014-01-16
NASA catches development of Tropical Cyclone 09S in Southern Indian Ocean
The ninth tropical cyclone of the Southern Indian Ocean season was born hours after NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead and gathered important infrared data on the developing storm.
NASA's ...
Understanding collective animal behavior may be in the eye of the computer
2014-01-16
Understanding collective animal behavior may be in the eye of the computer
International research team headed by NYU's Maurizio Porfiri demonstrates breakthrough in machine learning
No machine is better at recognizing patterns ...
Breast cancer cells disguise themselves as neurons to cause brain tumors
2014-01-16
Breast cancer cells disguise themselves as neurons to cause brain tumors
New City of Hope research explains how breast cancer becomes brain cancer years after initial diagnosis
DUARTE, Calif. – Treatment and "cure" of breast cancer doesn't ensure that the disease won't spread to ...
Heavy drinking in middle age may speed memory loss by up to 6 years in men
2014-01-16
Heavy drinking in middle age may speed memory loss by up to 6 years in men
Study finds moderate drinking may not harm memory and executive function
MINNEAPOLIS – Middle-aged men who drink more than 36 grams of alcohol, or two and a half US drinks per day, may ...
Dolphin-power sufficient for propulsion without tricks
2014-01-16
Dolphin-power sufficient for propulsion without tricks
Gray's paradox laid to rest
When Mr E. F. Thompson stood on a ship cruising through the Indian Ocean in the 1930s and observed a dolphin speed past the vessel in 7 seconds, he had no idea that this ...
Camera-carrying falcons reveal mystery of raptor pursuit
2014-01-16
Camera-carrying falcons reveal mystery of raptor pursuit
Falcons head off prey for interception
Hurtling through the air, a falcon locks its sights onto a victim as they engage in mortal combat. Intrigued by how flocks of birds respond to aerial attack, ...
No evidence of survival advantage for type 2 diabetes patients who are overweight or obese
2014-01-16
No evidence of survival advantage for type 2 diabetes patients who are overweight or obese
Boston, MA - Being overweight or obese does not lead to improved survival among patients with type 2 diabetes. The large-scale study led by Harvard School of Public ...
New drug combo cures toughest cases of hepatitis C, hints to future injection-free therapies
2014-01-16
New drug combo cures toughest cases of hepatitis C, hints to future injection-free therapies
Study shows safe and simpler treatment for potentially deadly, liver-damaging disease
Efforts to cure hepatitis C, the liver-damaging infectious disease that has for years ...
Heart attack damage slashed with microparticle therapy
2014-01-16
Heart attack damage slashed with microparticle therapy
First therapy to target damage after heart attack could transform field
CHICAGO --- After a heart attack, much of the damage to the heart muscle is caused by inflammatory cells that rush to the scene of ...
UK rates of gout soaring, but treatment remains poor
2014-01-16
UK rates of gout soaring, but treatment remains poor
1 in 40 people now affected; highest rates in Wales and North East of England
UK rates of gout have soared since the late1990s, with one in every 40 people now affected by the condition - the highest in ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Twenty years on, biodiversity struggles to take root in restored wetlands
Do embedded counseling services in veterinary education work? A new study says “yes.”
Discovery of unexpected collagen structure could ‘reshape biomedical research’
Changes in US primary care access and capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic
Cardiometabolic trajectories preceding dementia in community-dwelling older individuals
Role of ELK3 in ferroptosis of rheumatoid arthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes
Team of Prof. Woo Young Jang Department of Orthopedic Surgery, KU Anam Hospital wins the Best Paper Award from the Korean Musculoskeletal Tumor Society
Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation announces recipients of inaugural Keith Terasaki Mid-Career Innovation Award
The impact of liver graft preservation method on longitudinal gut microbiome changes following liver transplant
Cardiovascular health risks continue to grow within Black communities, action needed
ALS survival may be cut short by living in disadvantaged communities
No quantum exorcism for Maxwell's demon (but it doesn't need one)
Balancing the pressure: How plant cells protect their vacuoles
Electronic reporting of symptoms by cancer patients can improve quality of life and reduce emergency visits
DNA barcodes and citizen science images map spread of biocontrol agent for control of major invasive shrub
Pregnancy complications linked to cardiovascular disease in the family
Pancreatic cancer immune map provides clues for precision treatment targeting
How neighborhood perception affects housing rents: A novel analytical approach
Many adults report inaccurate beliefs about risks and benefits of home firearm access
Air pollution impacts an aging society
UC Davis researchers achieve total synthesis of ibogaine
Building better biomaterials for cancer treatments
Brain stimulation did not improve impaired motor skills after stroke
Some species of baleen whales avoid attracting killer whales by singing too low to be heard
Wasteful tests before surgery: Study shows how to reduce them safely
UCalgary researchers confirm best approach for stroke in medium-sized blood vessels
Nationwide, 34 local schools win NFL PLAY 60 grants to help students move more
New software developed at Wayne State University will help study chemical and biological systems
uOttawa study unveils new insights into how neural stem cells are activated in the adult human brain
Cystic fibrosis damages the immune system early on
[Press-News.org] Ice-loving sea anemones discovered in AntarcticaANDRILL team discovers new species living beneath the Ross Ice Shelf