'Lost world' found in Antarctica

[kevin]

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2012/01/05/lost-world-new-species-discovered-antarctica?hpt=hp_c2

How many times do we hear someone making the hollow promise "You've never seen anything like it before!" Well for all the times you've been let down, here's one instance where you can believe the hype.
You've really never seen anything like these Antarctic sea creatures before -- because nobody has seen these Antarctic sea creatures before.
A team of British scientists announced the discovery of what they're calling a "Lost World" of deepwater species. Creatures resembling a really pale octopus, a predatory starfish, thousands of crabs and sea anemone are among the heretofore unseen ocean life they found more than 7,000 feet beneath the waters off Antarctica.
Discover more photos of this stunning "Lost World" from the University of Oxford and National Geographic.
Researchers sent a robotic vehicle to the deep, frigid depths in their search for new species. What they found was a thriving ecosystem built around hydrothermal vents which can reach 719 degrees Fahrenheit.
The expedition's lead researcher says, "The first survey of these particular vents, in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica, has revealed a hot, dark, lost world in which whole communities of previously unknown marine organisms thrive."
According to a summary from the University of Oxford, which participated in the study, those vents "create a unique environment lacking sunlight but rich in certain chemicals."
So that's why all the creatures are so pale ... and yet so alive.

 

[TanksNStuff]

Cool stuff.

 

[Fish Brain]

The white octopus is really neat and I blame Apple for me wanting to call it the iOctopus.