This was no ordinary expedition. It marked the first in-depth study of the geology, ocean conditions, and marine life beneath ...

In the south Atlantic, north of Antarctica ... Pyconogonids, or sea spiders, are found throughout the world’s oceans, but reach startlingly large sizes around the poles. Screengrab from Schmidt ...

Australian Antarctic Division ... “The sea pig spends its days snuffling though the muddy sediments on the seafloor, eating bits of dead algae and animals that have fallen from the surface ...

Scientists onboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor (too) sailed to Antarctica ... large vaselike sponges whose size hints at their age. “Based on the size of the animals ...

They may be “abundant” and “abundantly large” in polar regions due to “deep-sea gigantism”, a phenomenon of several deep-sea animals growing larger than their shallow-water relatives.