For the first time in 40 Million years: Antarctic Warming Creating Predator 'Smorgasbord'

[villager]

Antarctic Warming Creating Predator 'Smorgasbord'

Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News

Feb. 15, 2008 -- Global warming is setting the stage for an invasion of predators on the sea floor around Antarctica, the likes of which have not been there for more than 40 million years.

Back in the late Eocene epoch, predatory animals such as sharks and crabs were driven away from Antarctic depths when the continent and its surrounding waters turned into an icebox, said researchers on Friday at a symposium at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston.

The result was a virtually predator-free zone on the seafloor and a paradise for worms, sea lilies, clams, brittle stars and other bottom-dwelling animals.

All that is about to end, however. Global warming is now raising water temperatures to the point where, very soon, those long-exiled predators could return and wreak havoc on the ocean floor, say biologists.

"It's going to be a smorgasbord," said researcher Cheryl Wilga of the University of Rhode Island. She studies the metabolic limitations of sharks that have kept them from Antarctic waters for millions of years, but may not do so much longer.

"The species in the Antarctic (seafloor) have no defense for shell-crushing predators," said extreme species researcher Brad Seibel, also of the University of Rhode Island. "I don't think that anyone was really aware of this issue."

Along the Antarctic Peninsula, the northernmost, warmest part of the continent, global warming is raising air temperatures quickly. Water temperatures have been warming as well, at a rate of about 0.04 degrees Celsius per year, Wilga says. That comes to about one degree per 25 years.

Compared to the relative stability seen for tens of millions of years, that's incredibly fast. Already, crabs are showing up, and some sharks are poised to pounce once the thermal dinner bell rings.

<snip>

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/15/antarctica-predators.html

[gaspee]

1. Oh-O

The Penguins better watch out. They're gonna make tasty snacks...

[thereismore]

2. We are going to see some monster sharks on steroids. And when they get

hungry...:scared:

[Submariner]

3. Maybe we'll see the return of "Megalodon"

That would make going to the beach or scuba diving quite interesting.