Unusual Sea Creatures Have Been Found in the Deep Waters of Australia

It is being reported that new marine animals have been found.

Scientists were exploring the waters of Australia that hadn't been explored before. They found spiders that live in the ocean and a strange "thing" that is carnivorous called a sea squirt. The sea squirt is also called an ascidian. It stands from the floor of the sea and is much like the venus fly trap in that it catches its food in its front section that looks like a funnel. Giant sponges and 10,000 year old coral were found. Also found were gooseneck barnacles and huge communities of unusual looking purple colored sea anemones. The scientists concluded that all this strange underwater life is indicative of global warning.

Sea spiders are not uncommon in shallow water. They camouflage themselves and can be found under rocks along the shore. They are usually scavengers. There are over 1300 species of sea spiders and now a new species can be added to the list. Rather than being an actual spider they are distant relatives to anthropoids which have body cavities in which are their internal organs and that is where their blood circulates. They have what is called an open circulatory system.

This endeavor was a joint one between the United States and Australia. Months were spent in these waters. A robot was used to explore an area called the Tasman Fracture Zone which goes down to over 13,000 feet below the surface of the earth. Found also were newer coral reefs that appeared to be dying. Global warming is blamed for the temperatures of the sea getting warming caused by the build up of green house gases like carbon dioxide. So when you hear President-elect Obama talk about greenhouse gases and you never knew what they caused you now know one real problem with these gases.

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is called the largest living organism in the world. A United Nations' report warned that global warning could kill this reef! It is made up of close to 3,000 individual reefs over 1600 miles

The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is made up of tiny organisms called coral polyps.

A tourist attraction, The World Heritage site, is located off of Australia's east coast and literally become extinct in the nature of it not being productive. It became a World Heritage Site in 1981.

SOURCES

www.wikipedia.com

cosmosmagazine.com

chinapost