Stunned scientists find FISH beneath 2,400ft-thick Antarctic ice sheet - and they could be getting energy from Earth's core

-          Discovery made after drilling a small hole through the Ross Ice Shelf

-          Scientists spotted the sea creatures in water just 33ft (10 metres) deep

-          Small pink fish had organs that showed through translucent bodies

-          Chemical energy from inside Earth's interior, rather than sunlight, could be sustaining bacteria and other microbes which the fish feed on.

By ELLIE ZOLFAGHARIFARD FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 20:31 GMT, 22 January 2015 | UPDATED: 08:14 GMT, 23 January 2015

Incredibly-resilient fish have been found living in perpetual darkness beneath a 2,430ft (740 metre) thick sheet of Antarctic ice.

Stunned scientists made the discovery after drilling a small hole through the Ross Ice Shelf, which covers an area the size of France.

They spotted the sea creatures in an area of remote seawater 33ft (10 metres) deep, sealed between the ice sheet and the seafloor.

Resilient fish have been found living in darkness beneath a 2,430ft (740 metre) thick sheet of Antarctic ice

'I'm surprised,' Ross Powell, a glacial geologist from Northern Illinois University told Douglas Fox at Scientific American.

'You get the picture of these areas having very little food, being desolate, not supporting much life.'

The discovery of fish in waters -2°C and perpetual darkness poses new questions about the ability of life to thrive in extreme environments.

The expedition had initially wanted to analyse the stability of the Whillans Ice Stream, which is one of about a half-dozen large, fast-moving rivers of ice pouring from the West Antarctic.

The discovery of fish in waters -2°C and perpetually dark poses new questions about the ability of life to thrive in extreme environments. 'You get the picture of these areas having very little food, being desolate, not supporting much life,' Ross Powell, a geologist from Northern Illinois University told Scientific American

Pictured is the drilling site. The expedition had initially wanted to analyse the stability of the Whillans Ice Stream, which is one of about a half-dozen large, fast-moving rivers of ice pouring from the West Antarctic

When ice drillers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln peered beneath the region, they initially didn't believe it could hold life.

But over several hours, they spotted 20 to 30 fish and lowered a camera into the area to capture their discovery.

The fish had a bluish-brownish-pinkish, were roughly 15cm long with internal organs showing through translucent bodies.

'It was clear they were a community living there,' Proessor Powell says, 'not just a chance encounter.'

The team encountered two other types of smaller fish - one black and another orange. They also found red, shrimp crustaceans, as well as some other marine invertebrates.

Researchers suspect one source of food for the fish is plankton which can be grown in the waters of the Ross Sea and then swept under the ice shelf over a period of six or seven years.

Stunned scientists made the discovery after drilling a small hole through the Ross Ice Shelf, which covers an area the size of France. They spotted the sea creatures in an area of remote seawater 33ft (10 metres) deep, sealed between the ice sheet and the seafloor below

Researchers suspect one source of food for the fish is plankton which can be grown in the waters of the Ross Sea (pictured) and then swept under the ice shelf over a period of six or seven years

Chemical energy from inside interior, rather than sunlight, could also be sustaining bacteria and other microbes which the fish feed on.

The team are currently in the process of analysing the fish to understand more about their species.

'I have been investigating these types of environments for much of my career, and although I knew it would be difficult, I had been wanting to access this system for years because of its scientific importance,' said Professor Powell.

'Findings such as these - gaining an understanding of the ice sheet dynamics and its interaction with ocean and sediment, as well as establishing the structure of its ecosystem - are especially rewarding. It's a big pay-off in delayed gratification.'

NEW SPECIES OF SULPHATE BREATHING BUG FOUND DEEP UNDER OCEAN

Researchers lowered this robolab complete with drill through two miles of ocean and bored through several hundred feet of ocean sediment and into the rock where the aquifer flows

Two miles below the surface of the ocean, researchers have discovered new microbes that 'breathe' sulphate. The microbes, which have yet to be classified and named, exist in massive undersea aquifers — networks of channels in porous rock beneath the ocean where water continually churns, researchers say. About one-third of the Earth's biomass is thought to exist in this largely uncharted environment. 'It was surprising to find new bugs, but when we go to warmer, relatively old and isolated fluids, we find a unique microbial community,' said Alberto Robador, of USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, who led the study. Sulphate is a compound of sulfur and oxygen that occurs naturally in seawater. It is used commercially in everything from car batteries to bath salts and can be aerosolised by the burning of fossil fuels, increasing the acidity of the atmosphere. Microbes that breathe sulphate - that is, gain energy by reacting sulfate with organic (carbon-containing) compounds - are thought to be some of the oldest types of organisms on Earth.

Written by Rebeca Mees