"It's extraordinary to think that we've put someone on the moon and we're very familiar with lots of parts of the planet, we've got Google Earth and yet here we are, we've got parts of the planet that have never been sighted or explored before." - Peter Garrett, Federal Environment Minister
Underwater mountains up to 500 metres high and 25 km wide are among the treasures being discovered in the icy depths of the Southern Ocean. Professor Nic Bax, from CSIRO describes them as "rainforests of the deep". What is particulary amazing about this discovery is the hundreds of new marine species, all new to science - more than 270 species of fish, coral, molluscs, crustaceans and sponges so far. Also found was ancient coral up to 2000 years old and a species of ray never seen alive in Australian waters, and captured on film. These incredible finds were made in marine reserves 100 nautical miles south of Tasmania during two CSIRO voyages where new sonar technology mapped the volcanic mountains and canyons (larger than the Grand Canyon) up to 3,000 metres underwater. Only a tiny proportion of the world's oceans have been explored and scientists can only speculate about the biodiversity hidden under the water. Professsor Bax said, "we have no idea how many species there are , and most of the species we get we only catch once". CSIRO Scientist Kate Wilson has commented that more is known about the surface of Mars that about the depths of the world's oceans. Read more about the discovery here
It is so reassuring to know that we dont know everything yet: that there are whole new landscapes and strange new life forms to discover right here, on Earth. Forget Star Trek. Let's Sea Trek.
Underwater mountains up to 500 metres high and 25 km wide are among the treasures being discovered in the icy depths of the Southern Ocean. Professor Nic Bax, from CSIRO describes them as "rainforests of the deep". What is particulary amazing about this discovery is the hundreds of new marine species, all new to science - more than 270 species of fish, coral, molluscs, crustaceans and sponges so far. Also found was ancient coral up to 2000 years old and a species of ray never seen alive in Australian waters, and captured on film. These incredible finds were made in marine reserves 100 nautical miles south of Tasmania during two CSIRO voyages where new sonar technology mapped the volcanic mountains and canyons (larger than the Grand Canyon) up to 3,000 metres underwater. Only a tiny proportion of the world's oceans have been explored and scientists can only speculate about the biodiversity hidden under the water. Professsor Bax said, "we have no idea how many species there are , and most of the species we get we only catch once". CSIRO Scientist Kate Wilson has commented that more is known about the surface of Mars that about the depths of the world's oceans. Read more about the discovery here
It is so reassuring to know that we dont know everything yet: that there are whole new landscapes and strange new life forms to discover right here, on Earth. Forget Star Trek. Let's Sea Trek.
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