Life beneath the Cold 🌊❄️
At the South Pole of our planet Earth, is the continent of Antarctica, covered by a large ice cap. The largest floating ice shelf here is known as the 'Ross Ice Shelf'. It is about the size of France, with a thickness of 2450 feet.
Until recently, the ocean floor beneath this ice sheet was considered a lifeless environment, like the rocky surface of our moon. However, in 2015, during a research of the Ross ice sheet, scientists were surprised to find a biological system hidden there.
The ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) which they sent to the bottom of the ice sheet, observed between 20 and 30 different fish on the very first day. The fish were said to be blue, brown, pink as well as black with slightly transparent bodies. In addition to fish, other small crustaceans were also observed. There were some species with features related to sponges. Scientists have been amazed that these lives coping in this environment, which never gets any sunlight, lacks nutrients and ranges between very low water temperatures.
Scientists say that these organisms have adapted to harsh marginal environmental conditions while maintaining low metabolic rates, and that they are largely dependent on the old sedimentary fluid that remains at the bottom of the ice sheet. It has also been suggested that these organisms are fed by the nutrients that reach them through currents. Further research on this is now underway.
For an interesting fact followed by this discovery is that now astronomers say that life could exist in a similar way on Europa, a satellite(a moon) of Jupiter. Because it, too, is a planet with a cold ocean with the capacity of sustaining LIFE..
