700 Species Discovered in Antarctica

The very cold, very dark waters near Antarctica may seem an unlikely place to find life, but scientists recently discovered more than 700 species thriving there. All of the species were completely new, and more than a few had evolved eyes, despite living in a nearly lightless environment.

As you can see in this slideshow, many of these sponges, crusteaceans and mollusks are pearly white--characteristic of creatures in such environments. But others were pink and red and just as colorful as their tropical counterparts.

Just goes to show that this planet's still teeming with life, even in the face of global warming-related extinctions.