Wonders of the deep: Stunning pictures of strange and unique Antarctic sea life



Amazing pictures of Southern Ocean marine life captured by scientists working in the Antarctic were released today.



The inhabitants of the continent's seas were captured as part of a study on biodiversity carried out by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).



Images of the marine creatures, which were taken in the Bellingshausen Sea, West Antarctica, include ice fish, sea pigs and crustaceans.



The underwater images also show giant sea spiders, rare rays and beautiful basket stars.

Basket Star: This bloodless creatures weighs 11 pounds and lives for about 35 years

Captured: An amphipod sandhopper (left) and up close and personal with an octopus



Skate: A slow grower, skate is also slow to reproduce and has proven susceptible to overfishing

'Few people realise just how rich in biodiversity the Southern Ocean is - even a single trawl can reveal a fascinating array of weird and wonderful creatures as would be seen on a coral reef,' said BAS research cruise leader Dr David Barnes.



'These animals are potentially very good indicators of environmental change as many occur in the shallows, which are changing fast, but also in deeper water which will warm much less quickly.

Some like it cold: the Antarctic icefish thriives in waters between -2C and 4C

We are family: The isopod crustacean (left) is related to the prawn, while comb jellies are a type of jellyfish



'We can now begin to get a better understanding of how the ecosystem will adapt to change.

'Our new studies on the diverse range of marine creatures living in the deep waters of the Bellingshausen Sea will help us build a more complete picture of Antarctica's marine biodiversity and give us an important baseline against which we can compare future impact on marine life.'



Cucumber and coral: The sea pig (left) is a member of the sea cucumber family, while soft coral can live with much less light than hard coral, but is not suitable for reef-building



Best of both worlds: The scale worm is a worm like any other, except scales allow it to swim in the chilly Antarctic waters