New Species of Sea Anemone that Live Upside-Down Discovered in Antarctica

A survey conducted under Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf has led to the discovery of a new species of small sea anemone that live hanging upside down, with tentacles sticking out into the freezing water.

Researchers from the National Science Foundation using a camera equipped robot to explore the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica's largest floating body of ice, stumbled on thousands of White Sea anemones, which hang from ice. The newly discovered species are baptized as Edwardsiella andrillae, in honor of the ANDRILL Program.

Unlike the other sea anemones found in Antarctica, these newly discovered species live in ice and not seafloor and they hang upside down from ice. This finding highlights the unknown and unexplored regions despite covering 50 years of active research.

"It is an absolutely astonishing discovery--and 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," Scott Borg, who heads the Antarctic Sciences Section in NSF's Division of Polar Programs said. "This goes to show how much more we have to learn about the Antarctic and how life there has adapted."

The research team was on a mission to study more about ocean currents existing beneath the ice shelf. They were testing underwater equipment. The team drilled a hole through the 270 meter thick ice shelf to place the 4.5 foot cylinder equipped with two cameras, below the shelf.  It was then that they discovered the strange species glowing in camera light.

"They had found a whole new ecosystem that no one had ever seen before. What started out as an engineering test of the remotely operated vehicle during its first deployment through a thick ice shelf turned into a significant and exciting biological discovery," Frank Rack, executive director of the ANDRILL Science Management Office at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

In a contracted state, the anemones measured less than an inch whereas in a relaxed state they were three-four times longer. Each has 20-24 tentacles in which the inner ring has eight long tentacles and the outer ring has 12-16 tentacles. The species were retrieved from their burrows using suction device and were transported to McMurdo Station for preservation and also to conduct further studies on the species.

What remains a mystery is that how these anemones manage to survive in frigid temperatures and also how they reproduce. The scientists have no clue on what these anemones feed on.

Apart from this the scientist identified a bizarre creature which they called 'eggroll'. It was a four inch long, with one inch in diameter that used appendages present at both ends of its body to swim.