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Unaided You Won’t See Many Antarctic Arthropods
By CruiseDirector | July 29, 2010
You’d be surprised that the farthest southern living animal is actually a pink mite. This tiny creature is only 1/100th of an inch long. It eats algae and fungi and resembles a spider. The tiny mite was found near the South Pole, only 309 miles from it, by a Hawaiian entomologist recently. The entomologist also found lichens within 266 miles of the Pole. This is the closest any living thing has ever been found to the Pole. You can get the best antarctic tours information by visiting this website.
The only animals that can withstand the yearly weather of Antarctica are insects and insect-like, according to a popular magazine article. Although your eye can’t see them, around 56 species of arthropods have been found there. The biggest measures about the same as a horsefly, and is a wingless fly. Lying dormant until the air reaches 32 degrees Fahrenheit, they then become active.
A huge conglomerate of living creatures fills the waters surrounding Antarctica. They range in size from microscopic to the biggest on this planet. At one point, scientist sought to observe the sea’s creatures by lowering a steel capsule under the ice. It measured six by four feet. Using one of the six windows to peer out, scientist took turns viewing the sea. A built-in hydrophone also let them hear the sounds in the water.
One jelly fish swam by with tentacles trailing thirty feet behind it. They didn’t see many other fish. Curious and graceful seals frequented the waters around the capsule, using the hole to breathe and checking out the scientists. The hydrophone picked up all the chirping and whistling that seals typically make when communicating. This underwater racket hadn’t been heard previously, according to one investigator. You will gain a deeper understanding about antarctica holiday by checking out that resource.
Scientists speculate that the seals are using this noise to both communicate and find their way in the dark waters. This theory would help us understand how the seals are able to find places to surface for air and food in the dark of the Antarctic. Analysis of the seal sounds is being performed in the Antarctic. Our human range of hearing can’t even pick up on some of the more extremely pitched sounds made by the seals.
It’s still unknown the method by which the sounds are made by the seals. To remain airtight underwater, they shut their mouths and nostrils. Fifteen hundred feet deep is how low some Weddell seals have dived. This is officially the deepest any mammal has been recorded as going. Another record Weddell seals hold is that one stay underwater for 28 minutes. A mother seal willingly gave samples of her milk to a scientist. Seal pups add weight faster than any other known mammal; this could be due to the fact that seal milk has much more fat in it than human milk does. A baby seal can be expected to quintuple its weight in six short weeks.
With special diving suits, the seas around Antarctica have been investigated by scientists. Multicolored seaweeds, including red ones, blanketed the bottom of the ocean. Scientists also found five-foot long worms, giant sponges and huge starfish.
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