Photo taken from National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research’s website.
I often come across one or two brittlestars on a dive. Well scientists have found millions of them on a sea mount in New Zealand. They are on a peak at about 90 metres depth on the subsea Macquarie range, which stretches for 1400 miles south of New Zealand. The mount rises up from 750 metres from the sea floor, and there is quite a strong current sweeping it, which scientists suspect are keeping some predators away. Chances are it is also washing nutrients past, since brittlestars feed by waving their arms about in the current and food sticks to a type of sticky mucus on their arms.
Brittlestars have 5 arms and not surprisingly are related to star fish, but they are also related to sea cucumbers and sea urchins, and such large groups of them have not been seen before.
There is a detailed report on the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research’s website.
You can see a video on the BBC’s website. But there are also reports elsewhere, such as Reuters, and Times Online.
