The Antarctic Ocean is WEIRD

We made this video in partnership with the Bik Lab at University of Georgia and the National Science Foundation.
Life in Antarctica's ocean has followed a completely different evolutionary path from other ocean life because of how cold and isolated the ocean is.

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Antarctic Circumpolar Current: an ocean current that flows clockwise from west to east around Antarctica.
- Polar Gigantism: The phenomenon that animals near the poles are larger than their temperate counterparts.

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CREDITS
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Virginia Schutte | Script Writer
Cameron Duke | Narrator and Director
Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

Antarctica Footage | Virginia Schutte and Holly Bik, funded by the National Science Foundation

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

OUR STAFF
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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke
Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes
Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich
Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

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REFERENCES
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[csernobillahun]

This was the first time someone explained to me why the waters around Antarctica is so full of nutrients. I heard it repeated in documentaries and whatnot, that it is, but never the WHY
Thank you!

[xislomega]

I discovered sea spiders just now. I don't know exactly what they do, but I know they eat tiny soft-bodied invertibrates that are slow, which means they probably can't even damage human skin, if you even let them touch you and won't shake them off immediately. Besides, they live far away from humans, so you'd have to go out far and dive quite deep to find them.

[GreatBigBore]

I have an older sponge than that in my shower, and I could argue that it’s alive

[babilon]

Man... that pun at the end. It was cold. But I guess it has a deep meaning. I just can't sea it.

[cuitaro]

One sponge to age them all, one squid to size them, one blue whale to eat them all, and in the Southern Ocean bind them.
In the land of Antarctica, where the weird things lie.

[rumi]

Just imagine the undiscovered wonders of the earth.

[realmless]

The southern Ocean: the most ocean like ocean that looks like a random stretch of coastal water.

[dibenp]

Love the sneaky cameos by doctors Shutte and Bik at 2:33

[garg]

Antarctica in general is unique, being a continent sitting on the South Pole, leaving its entire surface covered in frozen ice, compared to the diverse range of habitats seen in every other landmass

[this_is_patrick]

0:55 Is this an error? I looked it up on Wikipedia and its estimated lifespan is 1.5k years, not 15k.

The Wikipedia article was revised (15:22, 13 June 2023). The revision summary says the 15k figure was a misquote from the cited paper.

The relevant passage in the cited paper says: "...largest hexactinellid sponges on the eastern Weddell Sea shelf can be more than 1, 500 years old."

[MrRTheZ]

1:23 "Antarctic Sea Spiders are the size of dinner plates."

Antarctic WHAT?!?

[michaelbaker]

So, if the organisms in the southern ocean have been isolated for so long, is the Antarctic blue whale a different species than the blue whale?
Or is it an exception to your rule in that it can pass the barrier?
I want to know more.

[Crausy]

0:41 thats the granny from SpongeBob, and old patrick, i loce these references 😂

[TheRavenLilian]

I have never been interested in studying marine biology before this. This is so

[PunkHerr]

But is a slow living creature also experiencing time like we do? In other words: Are they living "more time" or just slower?

[skyfeelan]

edit: it's indeed 15000 years old, see comment for detail

slight correction 0:53 giant sponge estimated age is 15 hundred years old (1500) not 15 thousand (15000), still very impressive tho

[oberonpanopticon]

The weird things are all around us, in every place that we rarely look closely enough at.

[missnaomi]

1) Well done, as always!
2) It took me a minute to recover from "I squid you not." I forgive you.

[thejellyfishmeister]

A small quibble about the video at 1:15 : defining what is the "largest" animal, since the Lion's Mane Jellyfish can get up to 36 metres long, so in that sense it can get larger than both the Colossal Squid and the Blue Whale! Weight wise though, it is outclassed, and the blue whale and colossal squid are both the heaviest animal and heaviest invertebrate, respectively.

[macsnafu]

I can't see Patrick living to be 100 years old unless it's from dumb luck!