CSIRO discovers biological treasure trove in Southern Ocean
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Seamounts...'the rainforest of the deep'. (CSIRO)
Scientists are preparing to rewrite the textbooks after hundreds of massive deep sea mountains and new marine species were discovered in the Southern Ocean near Tasmania.
Researchers from the CSIRO have travelled to two Commonwealth marine reserves 100 nautical miles off the coast of southern Tasmania.
Their expedition has taken them to depths of two kilometres, allowing them to see coral up to 2,000 years old and a species of ray never seen alive in Australian waters.
Underwater mountains up to 500 metres high and 25 kilometres wide were among the treasures uncovered during the voyage of discovery.
They are the remnants of extinct volcanoes - and many of them have never been seen by humans.
Professor Nic Bax, an expert in marine resource management at the CSIRO, says the results are "astounding".
"When we went down there and saw the number of sea mounts which were there, we were really surprised," he said.
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says it's an "amazing day for Australian science".
"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," he said.
Treasure trove
In total 123 underwater mountains were discovered. Professor Bax says they are home to thousands of deep sea animals.
"They're really what we call the rainforests of the deep, they provide an area where we get a very wide range of species collected and that's really unique in the deep sea environment," he said.
Scientists onboard research ship the Southern Surveyor used new acoustic technology to create a map of the sea bed.
They then took samples from the sea floor at depths of up to 2 kilometres.
Nearly 70 per cent of the crustaceans, molluscs, sponges and corals that were analysed are believed to be new to science.
"It is a cold environment, things grow quite slowly so when you're looking at a coral which is maybe two metres high it may also be 300 years old or more," Professor Bax said.
"So you end up seeing some very old things down there. You can see corals which probably existed 2,000 years ago down there."
And there were some rare species of fish captured on video.
"We saw a type of ray, a deep-sea ray which has only ever been seen in Australia once before, and it was dead and only six species have ever been seen in the world and we were lucky enough to capture it on camera," Professor Bax said.
Mr Garrett says the research will help in the effort to conserve Australia's ocean biodiversity.
"It'll greatly inform scientists as they deepen their understanding about likely climate change impacts, water currents, and impacts of water temperature on the diversity of species," he said.
"There's clearly huge potential for science to dig deep, and explore to some phenomenal level, this extraordinary resource over time."
It will be at least seven years before scientists return to the area.
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Comments (23)
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scott:
08 Oct 2008 11:31:05am
truly amazing stuff. Where is the fraction of the amount of money used in various financial bailouts which would advance this knowledge more speedily?
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Wake up Australia:
08 Oct 2008 1:08:51pm
Indeed Scott I agree and what about the untold billions being sprayed up against the wall trying to desperately find one bit of irrefutable evidence that the AGW/CC theory is a scientific fact.
Spend this money on real scientific endeavour, fighting real pollution and better management of our natural resources and not trying to find fairies at the bottom of the garden.Agree (0) Alert moderator
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Brad:
08 Oct 2008 1:28:32pm
The tired old arguments of the climate change deniers are getting boring.
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magoo:
08 Oct 2008 11:40:15am
Gee, lucky we found them so we can detail their extinction in a few years time? Go CSIRO! Hope the fishing was good out there, fellas.
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Fratelli:
08 Oct 2008 11:54:04am
Actually one would think that their discovery would create more of an incentive to act now against causes for possible extinctions.
"Go CSIRO! Hope the fishing was good out there, fellas."
How is the discovery of new species and ecological hot spots a bad thing?Agree (0) Alert moderator
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Jeff N:
08 Oct 2008 12:14:12pm
At 2 km deep I don't think CSIRO are gonna catch any fish unless they brought along special fishing gear.
Which prompts the question: are these the same sea mounts that were home to schools of very long lived orange roughy, until the deep sea trawlers got in and cleaned them out. Sorry CSIRO, I have a feeling the fishermen have been there before you, and who knows what damage they did!
Commercial fishers are often the first to discover ocean features/resources. In his book on cod, Mark Kurlansky suggested that perhaps Columbus was not the first European to discover America, but some cod fishermen who kept their fishing spot quiet.Agree (0) Alert moderator
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Mephistopheles666:
08 Oct 2008 12:16:31pm
Actually I must agree with magoo on his assumptions here...I also think that invariably anything new that we discover, we inevitably always wipe out irregardless of our original intent to preserve. Those poor unsuspecting creatures of the deep have only a little while left in their previously undiscovered paradise before we commercialise and ruin their habitat. Damn the CSIRO and their undersea investigations.
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Zibethicus:
08 Oct 2008 11:53:43am
...what a beautiful world it is...and how lucky we are...
It just goes to show you the nauseating folly of people who blandly propose that we should go on with the reckless plunder and devastation of a planet whose systems we hardly understand even to this extent.
I hope that the next expedition doesn't discover yet another devastated marine ecosystem. Thank you, CSIRO.Agree (0) Alert moderator
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ExCSIRO:
08 Oct 2008 12:20:14pm
It is a beautiful world, and I also thank CSIRO. I used to work for them once (though I'm not a scientist) but I remember being amazed at the sheer diversity of areas they were involved in and I began to feel quite proud of being part of their efforts.
Reading of this discovery I am grateful that there are still some areas that are less easily touched by the greedy gang - how fantastic that there are so many new species. I was just feeling a bit sad about the frogs (it's the year of the frog did you know...) which are under pressure.
May more new species be safely hiding somewhere, and may the frogs live on to hop into the future...Agree (0) Alert moderator
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Stoo:
08 Oct 2008 12:00:14pm
Gosh this is exciting stuff. CSIRO researchers have found that if you look in areas never before examined you are likely to find unusual flora and fauna on unusual landforms.
One looks forward to further revelations - just why do many truckies wear blue singlets?
Australian science - as ever at the blunt edge of achievement.Agree (0) Alert moderator
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Nancy:
08 Oct 2008 1:08:11pm
Ah, Stoo. You may not see the point of this research but I'm sure you benefit in many ways from other scientific research.
Perhaps we can get someone to do research into ignorance about science?Agree (0) Alert moderator
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Alan:
08 Oct 2008 12:01:48pm
How refreshing to hear about some great scientific endeavour - it is a nice escape from all the financial and political turmoil.
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Peter D:
08 Oct 2008 12:04:49pm
This is all well and good and very very nice. Kind of like peeing in a wet suit. But What's in it for me ?????? Wouldn't matter really for anybody if we still didn't know about this.......unless somebody has found a way to grow apple orchards on undersea plains or they develop SCUBAs for sheep so they could graze on the undersea mountainsides. Is this one of those crazy days???
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Navel:
08 Oct 2008 12:35:37pm
'But What's in it for me ??????'
Look at all the kids for example, that are absolutely fascinated with dinosaurs when they were growing up. Maybe you were one of those kids also? That's what's in it for you, as one tiny example. Maybe our future generations may learn about a fascinating new species in school one day, and get hooked on learning all about the wonderful flora and fauna that still abounds on this planet. That's what it is all about - knowledge and understanding.
Indeed, one could watch a David Attenborough doco and wonder, 'what's in it for me?'. Time to think about the bigger picture...Agree (0) Alert moderator
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hugh jampton:
08 Oct 2008 1:04:06pm
There may be nothing immediate in this for you, but down the track there could be benefits from these new life forms. Most of the chemiclas/compunds we use in medicine are derived from naturally occurring substances. The discovery of new organisms may reveal new chemicals/compounds that are beneficial. In this kind of research (sometimes called 'blue sky') the benefits usually come later and are often unexpected. For an example of how a bolod pressure medication was developed from research into the venom of an obscure Brazilian snake, see this site:
http://ablog.apress.com/?p=486Agree (0) Alert moderator
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Jim Bendfeldt:
08 Oct 2008 1:44:06pm
Unfortunately, due to our greed and its associated destruction of habitats, (marine, rainforest, desert, arctic, etc.), we may never find out how many potential cures to debilitating diseases such as cancer, HIV, etc. exist on this planet.
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Nancy:
08 Oct 2008 1:11:08pm
Truly a selfish, and sadly typical, attitude of our society. A few hundred years ago people probably wondered why Pasteur and co worried about little bugs people couldn't see, but there are plenty of Peter Ds in the world benefitting from THAT irrelevant looking work.
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Barry:
08 Oct 2008 12:07:34pm
WOW ! I wonder how they got down there ? .......... Must have been global warming or was it climate change ?
No ...... It must have been the human race ..... Again !Agree (0) Alert moderator
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Jack:
08 Oct 2008 12:17:40pm
What a wonderful world we live in , we are so far up our bums concerned with world finances and how we will survive this consumer driven existance and this planet throws up these little pockets of undiscovered paradises to give those that care a reality check we continually need.
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dragon:
08 Oct 2008 12:19:15pm
What a great find, CSIRO.
Good to see this arm of science getting some kudos !
And as for Pete's response ......
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says it's an "amazing day for Australian science".
I suppose that's all you can expect from a lead singer in a Rock 'n Roll / anti-establishment / revolutionary / socialist commentary band !Agree (0) Alert moderator
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Rob:
08 Oct 2008 12:20:51pm
It worries me that even in this article the area discovered is termed a "resource"
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PB:
08 Oct 2008 1:01:26pm
These amazing finds also confirm the sheer stupidity of the Tasmanian Govt for allowing fishing to take place in newly created Marine Protected (sic) Areas.
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Kid Eager:
08 Oct 2008 1:22:21pm
Garrett's limited mind is revealed by suggesting that the not-very-detailed imagery of Google Earth is somehow comparable to the incredible-ness of sea mount biota.
He probably thinks the junky television show 'Mythbusters' is science...when he isn't facilitating pulp mills or uranium mines, that is.
Sadly, we won't see much from CSIRO that isn't directed at 'resources' - these natural history explorations are dying out and probably only justified because some 'resource' to sell might be found.
CSIRO should cover a wide range of applied and pure research, but an 'only if you can sell it' and politicised direction for the CSIRO was set by the Howard govt, but will be continued by the current one.Agree (0) Alert moderator
