Strange, Deep Sea Animals Thrive on Lost Shipping Container (VIDEO)

Thousands of feet below the ocean's surface lie strange communities of sea creatures that thrive within dark, cold waters. Now, scientists have taken a closer look at these communities and have discovered a lost shipping container almost 4,200 feet below the surface of Monterey Bay that has helped create a deep-sea animal community.

In 2004, the cargo vessel Med Taipei traveled southward along the California coast. That's when severe winds and seas dislodged 24 shipping containers. Fifteen months, a research dive located one of these shipping containers. Then in 2011, another ROV dive revealed that this container housed an entire community.

The hard surface of the container acted a bit like a rocky reef, attracting animals like tubeworms, scallops, snails and tunicates. Yet nearby animals found on rocky reefs did not colonize the container; these included sponges, soft corals and crinoids. This is most likely due to the fact that these animals are slower growing and were outcompeted by other animals. Another explanation could be that they were sensitive to the potentially toxic effects of corrosion-resistant coatings on the shipping container.

What's interesting is that this shipping container caused a shift in animal communities. It physical presence provided a hard surface for sessile animals, a physical obstacle that affected bottom currents and a high spot on the seafloor that attracted predators. It was also a possible source of toxic materials.

This latest study reveals quite a bit about how shipping containers can alter communities. Because shipping containers are lost on a fairly regular basis from ships, it also shows how persistent they can be on the seafloor; this is especially important to note as they change ecosystems.

"We have only begun to characterize the potential long-term impacts of a single container on a deep-sea community," said Josi Taylor, one of the scientists involved, in a news release. "Although the effects of one container may seem small, the thousands of shipping containers lost on the seafloor each year could eventually become a significant source of pollution for deep-sea ecosystems."

The findings are published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin.

Want to see it for yourself? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.