US and Australian researchers using a remotely operated submarine from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in the US were looking at the Tasman Fracture Zone. This is an area which drops from around 2km to 4km deep.
According to Ron Thresher of the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) they were looking for life deeper than any other voyage in Australian waters. He went on to say that “Our sampling documented the deepest known Australian fauna, including a bizarre carnivorous sea squirt, sea spiders and giant sponges, and previously unknown marine communities dominated by gooseneck barnacles and millions of round, purple-spotted sea anemones,”.
They also discovered that some deep sea coral is dying, and they collected data to try and assess the impact of global warming and the increasing acidity of sea water on these deep water corals.
You can read an article from The Australian, and the BBC has a video here.
