Exotic animals seen where Antarctic ice used to be

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Exotic_animals_seen_where_Antarctic_ice_used_to_be.html?siteSect=143&sid=7563064&cKey=1172424195000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Spindly orange sea stars, fan-finned ice fish and herds of roving sea cucumbers are among the exotic creatures spied off the Antarctic coast in an area formerly covered by ice, scientists reported on Sunday.

This is the first time explorers have been able to catalogue wildlife where two mammoth ice shelves used to extend for some 3,900 square miles (10,000 square km) over the Weddell Sea.

At least 5,000 years old, the ice shelves collapsed in two stages over the last dozen years. One crumbled 12 years ago and the other followed in 2002.

Global warming is seen as the culprit behind the ice shelves' demise, said Gauthier Chapelle of the Polar Foundation in Brussels.

[Gabi Hayes]

1. Isn't that Dave Chapelle's brother?

what does he know?

he's so high....

[Chulanowa]

2. "Herds of roving sea cucumbers"?

I cracked up reading that.

[tabasco]

3. Almost makes it sound like they're lookin' for trouble.

Roving gangs of sea cucumbers looking to mix it up with the jellyfish.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Maybe they'll clash with the Killer Tomatoes! nt

[slackmaster]

4. Unintended Consequences of Global Warming

;)

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Photos! from BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/sci_nat_unveiling_the_antarctic/html/1.stm



One of the extraordinary adaptations which evolution generates in the extreme Antarctic cold is found in the ice fish.

It has evolved to have no red blood cells and no haemoglobin, meaning that its blood flows more freely. The oxygen which its muscles need simply dissolves in the blood.

[donsu]

7. how fascinating and beautiful - guess now they will die

what with being exposed to sunlight