Giant sea creatures in Antarctica

In the Antarctic waters of New Zealand, huge creatures including jellyfish and tufts of 3.6m long and starfish 0.6m in size have been found. Scientists conducted the most comprehensive study so far about New Zealand's Antarctic waters.

They were amazed at the size of some specimens found including jellyfish with tufts of 3.6m in length and 0.6m in starfish.

Scientists have traveled a long journey of 3,226km to discover these new creatures. Oceanographer Stu Hanchet, New Zealand's National Water and Atmospheric Research Institute, said these creatures are being looked at by experts to see if they are really new animals on Earth.

However, besides the discovery of new creatures, scientists also claimed that the survey opened unexpected surprises. Scientist Hanchet himself discovered the sea lily ' fields ' stretching hundreds of meters below the seabed. He thought that some of these multi-spiny animals have never been found before. Previously only relatively small specimens were found in the Ross Sea.

Giant starfish found in Antarctic waters (Photo: AP)

The survey is part of the International Polar Program with the participation of 23 countries in 11 surveys of marine life around Antarctica. The program hopes to set standards to assess the consequences of global warming in the Antarctic region.

Scientist Don Robertson said low temperatures, low carnivores, abundant oxygen, and even longevity are the reasons for the large size of some organisms here. He also added that of the 30,000 research samples, hundreds of samples could become newly discovered organisms.

Stefano Schiaparelli, a mollusk specialist at the Italian marine museum in Genoa, discovered at least eight new mollusks.'This is a new brick on the wall of scientific knowledge about Antarctica.'