An expedition to one of the deepest places on earth has
discovered a species of huge crustacean that looks like a
28cm prawn.
Scientists scouring the waters of the Kermedec Trench, north
of New Zealand, found the "supergiant'' amphipods at a depth
of 7km.
The team, made up of scientists from the National Institute
of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and the University
of Aberdeen in the UK, made the discovery when they deployed
a camera in an attempt to recover specimens of deep-sea
snailfish.
Voyage leader Alan Jamieson, from the University of Aberdeen,
recalled: "At the moment the traps came on deck we were
elated at the sight of the snailfish as we have been after
these fish for years. However, seconds later I stopped and
thought `what on earth is that?' whilst catching a glimpse of
an amphipod far bigger than I ever thought possible.''
The specimens are the biggest amphipods caught and found at
the deepest level.
"The surprising thing here is that we have already been to
this deep trench twice and never come across these animals
before. In fact a few days after the discovery we deployed
all the equipment again on the same site and we failed to
photograph or capture a single supergiant; they were there
for a day and gone the next,'' Dr Jamieson said.
Ashley Rowden, from NIWA, said for such a large and
conspicuous animal to go unnoticed for so long showed how
little we know about life in New Zealand's deepest habitat.
The team will now try to determine why, of the hundreds of
species of deep-sea amphipods, these ones have evolved to be
so large.
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