Antarctic Marine Explorers Reveal
First Hints of Biological Change
After Collapse of Polar Ice Shelves

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Part of the broken connection between Larsen-B-Ice shelf and the Antarctic peninsula. The picture was taken during the RV Polarstern expedition ANTXXIII/8 in the Weddell Sea 2006/07 © G. Chapelle, IPF / Alfred Wegener Institute, 2007. An evening in the area of the former Larsen-B-Ice shelf and the Antarctic peninsula. The picture was taken during the RV Polarstern expedition ANTXXIII/8 in the Weddell Sea 2006/07. © G. Chapelle, IPF / Alfred Wegener Institute, 2007. The Antarctic coastline after the Larsen B ice shelf vanished. © G. Chapelle, IPF / Alfred Wegener Institute, 2007. Drifting Plateau Iceberg piece in Antarctica in very calm sea. The picture was taken during the RV Polarstern expedition ANTXXIII/8 in the Weddell Sea 2006/07. © G. Chapelle, IPF / Alfred Wegener Institute, 2007.
Another view of icebergs in the area studied during the 10-week RV Polarstern Antarctic expedition. © G. Chapelle , IPF / Alfred Wegener Institute, 2007. This is the coast of the new Larsen A embayment following the ice-shelf collapse. The picture was taken during the RV Polarstern expedition ANTXXIII/8 in the Weddell Sea 2006/07. © G. Chapelle , IPF / Alfred Wegener Institute, 2007. Antarctic octopus (Paraledone turqueti). © E. Jorgensen, NOAA 2007. First observation of the living color pattern of the recently described Antarctic sea anemone Stephanthus antarcticus (Rodriguez, Lopez-Gonzalez, 2003). © P. Lopez, University of Sevilla, 2007.
Antarctic Ice Fish. As an adaptation to low temperatures, the Antarctic ice fish has no red blood pigments (haemoglobine) and no red blood cells. Thus the blood is more fluid and the animals save energy otherwise needed to pump blood through their body. Interestingly the brittle stars are overgrown by a yellow sponge. © J. Gutt, Alfred-Wegener-Institute 2007. Sea Star (Larsen A). At a depth of approx. 100m, in close proximity to a glacier, a muddy sediment is inhabited only by a sparse sessile fauna. Here a sea-star is depicted, which has the unusual number of 12 instead of 5 arms, as normal. © J. Gutt, Alfred Wegener Institute, 2007. Sea Anemone (Larsen B). This photo of a sea anemone has also been taken on bed rocks in the Larsen B area. © J. Gutt, Alfred-Wegener-Institute 2007. Sea Fans (Larsen B). Sea fans are closely related to corals. Although these ones, photographed in the waters of Larsen B, "choose" a large drop stone as a habitat, sea fans can also live on soft substrate. © J. Gutt, Alfred-Wegener-Institute 2007.
Corals (Larsen B). Corals are not only existant in warm tropical waters or along the continental shelf of the Atlantic, but also in the Antarctic. The picture ist taken in the Larsen B area, where pure bed rock exists in unusual great water depths of approx. 120 metres. © J. Gutt, Alfred-Wegener-Institute 2007. Sea Cucumbers (Larsen B). These deep-sea sea cucumbers are abundant in the Larsen B area. Interestingly they are all heading in the same direction. © J. Gutt, Alfred-Wegener-Institute 2007. Glass Sponge (Larsen A). Different to Larsen B, Larsen A was probably not permanently covered by ice shelf since the last glaciation period. Here, at Larsen A, the expedition found large glass sponges, which are extremely slow-growing and, as a consequence, must have already existed before the recent disintegration of the ice shelf. © J. Gutt, Alfred-Wegener-Institute 2007. Sea Squirts (Larsen A). Also fast growing animals, as these ascidians, were found at Larsen A. This can be an indication of a first step towards a biodiversity change after the collapse of the ice shelves. The animals in the foreground are colonised by two crustaceans and a brittle star. © J. Gutt, Alfred-Wegener-Institute 2007.
A new giant Antarctic amphipod crustacean, nearly 100 mm long, belonging to the genus Eusirus sampled by baited traps off the Antarctic Penisula during the RV Polarstern expedition ANTXXIII/8 in the Weddell Sea 2006/07. © C. d'Udekem, Royal Belgium Institute for Natural Sciences, 2007. A new species of Epimeria, a 25 mm long amphipod crustacean sampled near Elephant Island during the RV Polarstern expedition ANTXXIII/8 in the Weddell Sea 2006/07. © C. d'Udekem, Royal Belgium Institute for Natural Sciences, 2007. A new species of Shackletonia, an amphipod crustacean sampled near Elephant Island, Antarctic Pensisula, during the RV Polarstern expedition ANTXXIII/8 in the Weddell Sea 2006/07. © C. d'Udekem, Royal Belgium Institute for Natural Sciences, 2007. A giant Antarctic barnacle, a cirriped crustacean, sampled at the tip of the Antarctic Penisula during the ANT-XXIII/8 Polarstern expedition. © C. d'Udekem, Royal Belgium Institute for Natural Sciences, 2007.
       
       

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