Crazy Ice Fish

Current Conditions
Temperature: -3F
Wind Chill: -12F

I'm standing on a slab of sea ice wearing nothing but a pair of old sneakers and a thin waist harness, completely exposed to the zero degree air around me, looking down a hole the size of a sheet of plywood into an abyss of 28 degree ocean water that is impossibly alive. I see fish: starfish, dragonfish, even a small school that reminds me of the neon tetras in a home aquarium.

How can this be? I haven't seen a living creature since that last Weddell Seal back in February. The truth is, under all that ice is a blustering plethora of marine life. But how? Why?

There is tremendous upwelling in the Southern Ocean. This is thought to be the result of surface currents moving northward due to wind and weather. The displaced surface water is replaced by dense water being pushed up from the ocean's depths. This deep water brings with it lots of great stuff from the ocean floor. All the nutritious dead bits of sea life that have slowly settled to the bottom are brought to the surface to nourish the abundance of life that exists in this hole I'm staring into with trepidation.

But what about the temperature? Because the water is saline, it freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water, about 28 degrees Fahrenheit. It's literally freezing cold in there, and surely the bodily fluids of these creatures are not saline and should freeze at that temperature, right? Right, but, these critters have adapted. They actually utilize a glycoprotien that acts as an antifreeze, inhibiting ice crystal growth, among other nifty tricks that the scientist here are studiously, uh, studying.

The cold water is also advantageous because it is capable of maintaining a higher quantity of oxygen in solution. This allows the marine life to grow to spectacular sizes compared to their distant cousins of warmer waters. Sea lice, normally only a few millimeters long, can grow up to six inches here! Also due to the high oxygen concentration, there is a family of fish that is thought to absorb oxygen directly through the skin and into the bloodstream, which doesn't even need hemoglobins to carry it.

During the summer, there are SCUBA divers that willingly drop themselves through what basically amounts to glorified ice fishing holes. Most of the photos you see here were taken by a diver named Bruce, of whom I know nothing, but I thank him for leaving the pictures behind. This one is my favorite, depicting a distant jellyfish between a floor and ceiling of ice:

The divers work in close association with scientists to collect samples of sea life, which are subsequently kept in an aquarium here in Crary, where they can be "scienced" upon at leasure. Folks are free to visit and look into the tanks, so long as they aren't interfering, and a 'touch tank' is kept for those who just can't help themselves. Here are some of the odd critters that had the displeasure of residing there this summer:

And check out the octopus:

These fish must be crazy to swim in such frigid water...