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Brittlestar Volcanica: the search for food E-mail
by Alex Zaharov-Reutt   
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
A city of tiny "brittlestar" starfish have been found on a huge undersea volcano, waving their "arms" in the water to catch passing by particles of food.

No, it's not a sci-fi TV show, but an undersea reality as discovered by 19 marine scientists investigating an undersea mountain chain between New Zealand and Antarctica called the Macquarie Ridge sea mounts.

Millions of tiny "brittlestar" starfish can be seen living on the mountainous volcano, with the BBC offering a video clip of the starfish in action.

There are 19 scientists in total, who found all kinds of marine life, but the Brittlestars were the absolute highlight, according to the Associated Press (AP).

The AP reports the expedition was meant to “find evidence of climate change in the Southern Ocean.”

Expedition member and marine biologist Dr. Mireille Consalvey told the AP that: “I've personally never seen anything like this — all these animals, the sheer volume — all waiting for food from the current. It challenged what we as scientists thought we knew."

Ashley Rowden, the expedition’s leader and fellow marine biologist told the AP that: “It got us excited as soon as we saw it”.

A scientist who wasn’t on the expedition has guessed that fast ocean currents where the brittlestars live is protecting them from becoming fish food to other species of fish.

See the original AP story for more detail.

No Cylons were discovered during the expedition – only other marine life and loads of coral.

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