Arctic Ocean Depths Teeming with Life

The remotest depths of the Arctic ocean are surprisingly full of life, including previously unknown species of jellyfish and worms, a scientific team which just finished exploring the area said on Friday.

The scientists, led by the University of Alaska, used robot submarines and sonar to probe an isolated 12,470-foot (3,800-meter) basin off Canada's Arctic coast where they fear species could be at risk from global warming.

"We were surprised by the abundance and the diversity of life in this environment. Even at a depth of 3,000 meters we found animals on the sea floor, we found sea cucumbers ... and all kinds of jellyfish and crustaceans," said Rolf Gradinger of the University of Alaska, the chief scientist on the voyage.

"Some of the species that we saw are completely new to science, they have not been described in any area of the earth so far," he told reporters on a conference call. The species are a jellyfish and three kinds of benthic bristle worms.

The team also found unexpectedly high numbers of cod as well as the first squid, octopus and flea-like crustaceans ever seen in an icy environment.

Scientists Christmas Inflatable from the United States, Canada, Russia and China spent 30 days on the U.S. icebreaker Healy as part of a $1 billion, 10-year global Census of Marine Life funded by governments, companies and private donors.

The Healy returned on Tuesday with thousands of specimens from the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas and the Canada Basin, a vast bowl walled by steep ridges and covered with ice.

The team said the data would help measure the impact of climate change and, should polar caps continue receding, the damage done by increased energy exploitation, fishing and shipping.

"This is a benchmark and we hope that in the next 10, 20 or 30 years these kinds of studies will be repeated to see whether any kinds of changes have occurred in the composition and the abundance of animal life," said Gradinger.