Antarctic Ice Breakups Reveal New Species

Antarctic species photo
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Using a remotely operated vehicle, the expedition team captured images of a variety of sea life near the Larsen zone, including this potentially new species of giant Antarctic barnacle seen off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

More than 50 marine explorers aboard the research vessel Polarstern took part in the 10-week survey trip. The voyage was part of the ongoing Census of Antarctic Marine Life, a project of the global Census of Marine Life (CoML).

Last year a similar CoML expedition uncovered a host of potential new species along the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a chain of undersea mountains halfway between Europe and North America.

As in past survey projects, the survey team will now conduct extensive analyses to confirm whether any of the specimens collected are in fact new to science.

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—Photograph ) C. d'Udekem d'Acoz/Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
 

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