Posted on March 27, 2010  Comments (0)

A three-inch long Lyssianasid amphipod found 600 feet beneath the Ross Ice Shelf stars in a recent popular webcast (see below). NASA scientists were using a borehole camera to look back up towards the ice surface when they spotted this pinkish-orange creature swimming beneath the ice.

Stacy Kim of Moss Landing Marine Laboratory was the first biologist to see the video and immediately recognized it as a Lyssianasid amphipod. It was about 3 inches long and Stacy concluded that this meant there was quite an extensive biological community under the ice here – even 20 miles from open water.

Related: Iron-breathing Species Isolated in Antarctic for Millions of Years – Pine Island Glacier (PIG) Ice Shelf – The Brine Lake Beneath the Sea – Lake Under 2 Miles of Ice