Tens of millions of brittlestars have been found atop an underwater mountain off the coast of New Zealand.

The starfish-like creatures are protected by a four kilometers per hour current that scientists from the Census of Marine Life say brings food and sweeps away fish and other potential predators (AFP, Reuters, Fairfax Media).

“We were excited to see such a huge assemblage of brittlestars on the Macquarie Ridge seamount,” says Ashley Rowden of New Zealand National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (press release). “Not only is it amazing to see a vast array of one type of organism but the implications of the find for our understanding of the relative uniqueness of seamount assemblages are potentially far-reaching.”

The peak of the seamount is just 90 meters from the surface, well within reach of scuba divers. However the bottom is 850 meters down.

It forms part of the Macquarie Ridge, which runs south from New Zealand for hundreds of miles. This ridge is being claimed by New Zealand under UN laws governing ownership of the sea bed (claim pdf, Nature feature; subscription required).

As Reuters notes, such seamounts could be “targeted by commercial fishing or mining companies”. Brittlestar soufflé anyone?

Saving the best till last, there’s a video of the city. It looks like a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there.

Images:

All images courtesy of the NIWA