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> 7.5 million
TREES PLANTED
since 1997
Signs of alarm among fauna at bottom of the sea
Andrew Darby, Hobart 
January 19, 2009
CURIOUSER and curiouser. The latest bizarre finds have surfaced from the surreal world of the deep ocean south of Tasmania, and with them comes a warning.
Investigations in this sunless sea life hot spot have regularly yielded finds in recent years.
- CSIRO scientist discover 274 new marine species
- Strange, carnivorous 'sea squirt' discovered 4kms down
- Deep water coral reefs suffering damage
Only last October, CSIRO marine scientists announced the discovery of 274 species living among 80 new sea mountains in the depths. Isolated perhaps to a single seamount, species evolve separately over eons, like animals on islands above the sea.
This time, using a remote submersible borrowed from the US Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, CSIRO researchers have come back with the deepest known Australian fauna.
Down at 4006 metres the submersible, called Jason, photographed a strange carnivorous sea squirt.
A translucent creature, 50 centimetres high, it is fixed to the sea floor, where it waits to collapse a funnel-like head around any fish that swims into it.
Jason also found a new gorgon's head coral, its multiple tentacles reaching out to filter the passing waters for nutrients.
There was also strong evidence that the deep-water coral reefs in the area are in trouble, with most deeper than 1300 metres newly dead.
"We need to closely analyse the samples and measurements we collected before we can determine what's caused this," said CSIRO chief scientist Ron Thresher.
"It could be the result of several factors, such as ocean warming, disease or increasing ocean acidity."
Ocean acidification is a by-product of climate change.
Increased man-made carbon dioxide is slowly sinking into the sea, making it more acidic. Mathematical models predict acidification in this region of the Southern Ocean.
"If our analysis identifies this phenomenon as the cause of the reef system's demise, then the impact we are seeing now below 1300 metres might extend to the shallower portions of the deep reefs over the next 50 years, threatening this entire community," Dr Thresher said.
Vast fields of fossil corals were found below 1400 metres, and were dated as more than 10,000 years old.
These will also provide ancient climate data that contribute to models of regional and global climate change, based on historical circulation patterns in the Southern Ocean.
Source: The Age online
http://www.theage.com.au/national/signs-of-alarm-among-fauna-at-bottom-of-the-sea-20090118-7jyz.html