Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > Nature & Environment > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

Nature & Environment

Amazing creatures found 4km beneath the sea

By T.K. Randall
June 21, 2017 · Comment icon 11 comments

The deeper you go, the more unusual the wildlife becomes. Image Credit: Neal Ziring / Public Domain
Scientists have revealed some of the weird and wonderful animals that live in Australia's eastern abyss.
The expedition, which set out to explore Commonwealth marine reserves (CMRs) off the coast of eastern Tasmania and central Queensland, used a special type of camera to find out what type of creatures might be lurking up to 4km below the ocean's surface.

Among the unique specimens found during the study were a red coffin fish, a cookie-cutter shark, a blobfish, a spiky crab and a giant anemone-eating sea-spider.

Not so impressive however was the amount of trash found strewn across the sea floor.
"We've done about 50 different small net tows on the bottom and every one of them has brought up a piece of rubbish," said Dr Tim O'Hara from Museums Victoria. "Everything we do on land affects things we do at sea and that filters down to the deep sea and into the abyss."

On the plus side though, the findings should help conservation efforts well in to the future.

"We need to protect our marine parks and we need to know what's there so we know how to protect them," said marine invertebrates expert Melanie McKenzie.

"The only way we can do that is to find out what's there first, to get that baseline."



Source: ABC.net.au | Comments (11)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #2 Posted by DebDandelion 7 years ago
The sea has always held a mystery, IMO, there are so many areas that we haven't explored, so many areas we can't explore (yet),, and an abundance of.life that we do not.know about. Awesome read thank you
Comment icon #3 Posted by Timonthy 7 years ago
Blobfish are my favorite. Such happiness! I can't believe that they found the 'Trump Blobfish' so far from home: Amazing! Sad about the rubbish though...
Comment icon #4 Posted by The_V_Spirit 7 years ago
My favorite among them is the cookie-cutter shark. looks cute, happy, and savage at the same time!
Comment icon #5 Posted by TripGun 7 years ago
Imagine the monsters at the center of the Earth!
Comment icon #6 Posted by Timonthy 7 years ago
Oh yes, all of those iron-nickel alloy monsters. A nasty bunch indeed. Here's a rare photo of one:
Comment icon #7 Posted by taniwha 7 years ago
No doubts the bottom of the deep is the best place for those.
Comment icon #8 Posted by paperdyer 7 years ago
I hope they found more than one of each before taking the "specimens"   Where's the USRN Seaview when she's needed.
Comment icon #9 Posted by cluey 7 years ago
I have seen people world wide......and only an Australian knew what it was,lol.......   http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/researchers-find-penisesque-sea-creature-in-ocean-off-australia/news-story/586b53e04c65860b755da24f25507e28
Comment icon #10 Posted by cluey 7 years ago
wt.....oh my.......
Comment icon #11 Posted by Myles 7 years ago
Glad you didn't pick the sipuncula worm. Pretty cool stuff.  


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Recent news and articles