Scientists for the first time found a shrimp-like creature and jellyfish beneath a massive Antartica 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 cameras to get the first look at the underbelly of an ice sheet in Antartic. A curious shrimp-like creature came swimming by and then parked itself on the cameras's cable. Scientists also pulled up a tentacle they believe came from a foot-long jellyfish.
"We were operating on the assumption that nothing's there," said NASA ice scientist Robert Bindschadler. "We were '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.
The video is likely to inspire experts to think what they know about life in harsh environments.
Source: AP - By Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer.
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