10 Amazing Photos of Animals Hidden Under the Arctic Ice

Photo: Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska, Fairbanks/NOAA 2005

There are thousands of animals underneath the Arctic ice that most of us never get to see. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Explorer took a scientific expedition to the Canada Basin to get much needed information about climate change, and brought back these amazing images.

10. Crossota

Photo: Kevin Raskoff, California State University, Monterey Bay/NOAA 2005

These brilliant tiny jellyfish spend their lives as plankton in the water column.

9. Eusirus holmii
Photo: Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska, Fairbanks/NOAA 2005

This amphipod species (a crustacean with no shell) was found both at 2,000 feet below the surface and up at the same level as the ice.

8. Hymenodora glacialis
Photo: Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska, Fairbanks/NOAA 2005

These fascinating beauties are the only pelagic shrimps living in the water column known to survive in the Canada Basin.

7. Copoped
Photo: Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska, Fairbanks/NOAA 2005

This male copepod (meaning 'oar feet') is known by its extra long tail and antennae. The males are rare and do not live long.

6. Sea Star
Photo: Bodil Bluhm and Katherine Iken, University of Alaska, Fairbanks/NOAA 2005

A stunning sea star brought up from the sea floor. Sea stars are a keystone species and have a huge effect on the surrounding environment and ecology.

5. Amphipod
Photo: Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska, Fairbanks/NOAA 2005

An unknown species of commensal amphipod captured below 1,000 meters with a multinet.

4. Mollusc
Photo: Bodil Bluhm and Katherine Iken, University of Alaska, Fairbanks/NOAA 2005

These bivalves came from a core drilled deep into the ocean floor.

3. Clione
Photo: Image courtesy of Elisabeth Calvert, University of Alaska, Fairbanks/NOAA 2005

This Clione is also known as a sea butterfly. It is a form of shell-less snail that lives close to the surface.

2. Larvacean
Photo: Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska, Fairbanks/NOAA 2005

This is an unknown species of Larvacean; filter feeders who are plankton animals.

1. Aulococtena
Photo: Kevin Raskoff, California State University, Monterey Bay/NOAA 2005

The aulococtena lives between 350 and 1,100 meters deep in the sea and is the size and color of an orange. It has two sticky tentacles, one of which can be seen here.

There are thousands of microscopic animals in our world that we rarely get a chance to see and which are as beautiful – and often more unusual – than more common creatures we are used to.