subject: Wondering What Could Live In Antarctica? [print this page] The tiny pink mite, measuring 1/100th of an inch in length, is the farthest southern living animal recorded. Spider-like, this tiny life forms eats fungi and algae. Imagine the delight a scientist from Hawaii felt when he found the pink mite living a mere 309 miles from the South Pole. 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.
Some written reports claim that only insects and their kin can live year round on Antarctica. Although your eye can't see them, around 56 species of arthropods have been found there. One insect you could easily see is about the size of a common horsefly. It's a wingless fly. When the air warms to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the animals come to life, but are inert during the harsh winter.
The seas are vastly different than the land. Antarctica's waters hold a diverse population of creatures including microscopic creatures and giant blue whales. Scientist, in the search for more knowledge of sea life, put a six by four foot capsule under the water. As they took turns, the scientists watched the sea life around them through six windows. A hydrophone was included in the design so that ocean sounds could be recorded.
The scientists didn't see many fish, except for one very spectacular jelly fish. The fish sported thirty foot-long tentacles. Curious and graceful seals frequented the waters around the capsule, using the hole to breathe and checking out the scientists. The hydrophone gave scientists that chance to hear the seals; they chirped, whistled, buzzed and beeped. One scientist said this was the first time he'd ever heard this type of underwater din.
Scientists think the seals use these sounds to navigate and to speak with each other. 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. The recordings of seal sounds are being carefully researched. Because they are outside our hearing range, some of the sounds can't be detected by humans.
Scientists don't know yet how the Weddell seals make the sounds. Underwater finds the seals with sealed nostrils and mouths. The deepest a mammal has ever been recorded to dive is nearly 1500 feet; this was a Weddell seal. One seal was able to stay submerged for over 28 minutes. This is also a record. One zoologist was lucky enough to get a sample of a mother seal's milk. Baby seals use this milk to gain weight faster than any other mammals can; the milk is super high in fat. It only takes newborn seals six weeks to increase its weight by five times.
With special diving suits, the seas around Antarctica have been investigated by scientists. Multicolored seaweeds, including red ones, blanketed the bottom of the ocean. Five-foot long worms, four-foot diameter sponges and big red and white starfish were down there, too.
