New species discovered under Antarctic ice

From Discovery News:

Shrimp Dinner Found Beneath Antarctic Ice

Higher orders of life can apparently thrive in even the most extreme environments.

Mon Mar 15, 2010 02:30 PM ET | content provided by Seth Borenstein, Associated Press

THE GIST:

* A shrimp-like creature and a jellyfish have been discovered below a massive Antarctic ice sheet.
* NASA scientists had only expected to find a few microbes.
* The food source for these tiny critters is still a mystery.

In a surprising discovery about where higher life can thrive, scientists for the first time found a shrimp-like creature and a jellyfish frolicking beneath a massive Antarctic ice sheet.

Six hundred feet below the ice where no light shines, scientists had figured nothing much more than a few microbes could exist.

That’s why a NASA team was surprised when they lowered a video camera to get the first long look at the underbelly of an ice sheet in Antarctica. A curious shrimp-like creature came swimming by and then parked itself on the camera’s cable. Scientists also pulled up a tentacle they believe came from a foot-long jellyfish.

“We were operating on the presumption that nothing’s there,” said NASA ice scientist Robert Bindschadler, who will be presenting the initial findings and a video at an American Geophysical Union meeting Wednesday. “It was a shrimp you’d enjoy having on your plate.”

“We were just gaga over it,” he said of the 3-inch-long, orange critter starring in their two-minute video. Technically, it’s not a shrimp. It’s a Lyssianasid amphipod, which is distantly related to shrimp.