In January 2025, researchers from the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre captured extraordinary footage: a large sleeper shark gliding silently past a deep-sea camera in Antarctic waters. The sighting took place near the South Shetland Islands, at a depth of around 500m, in water hovering near freezing.

Even for seasoned scientists, the moment was startling. As marine researcher Alan Jamieson later admitted, seeing a shark there felt almost impossible. Until now, no sleeper shark had ever been recorded in these southernmost seas.

New research from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and partners reveals that Weddell seals that inhabit the icy waters of Erebus Bay, Antarctica, employ a careful hunting strategy when it comes to diving, timing their dives to balance energy use and foraging efficiency.

The study, published in Communications Biology, shows that the seals perform their longest and deepest dives early in the day, and not during midday when sunlight is at its peak. 

The ozone layer is back on our radar. Although its condition has improved after the Montreal Protocol was implemented, the hole reappears every spring over the Antarctic. 

In recent years, it is no longer just a winter phenomenon anymore; it Is stretching into the early summer, coinciding with crucial times in the life cycles of local wildlife and emerging vegetation, exposing them to the sun's ultraviolet rays. As our planet changes, the timing of this exposure could have profound effects on the delicate ecosystems of the Antarctic.

Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus quoyi) of the Southern Hemisphere were brought to near extinction by 20th-century industrial whaling. For decades, they had all but disappeared from previously highly frequented feeding grounds in Antarctic waters. Researchers estimate that by the time whaling was banned in the 1970s over 700,000 fin whales had been killed.  

What remains of the Endurance is 3,000m down in waters that are pretty much permanently covered in thick sea-ice, the same sea-ice that trapped and then ruptured the hull of Shackleton's polar yacht.

Research by the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey has shown that ships entering Antarctica waters can potentially introduce invasive, non-native species to the pristine, untouched environment. 

Most of these sounds were measured at more than 21 kHz, which is beyond the range of human hearing of 20 to 20,000 hertz. A particular high-pitched whistle came in at 49.8 kHz. When the seals harmonised multiple tones, the resultant sound may exceed 200 kHz, which is beyond what even cats and dogs can hear).

The discovery was the subject of a paper published online in the journal The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

When whaling all but exterminated the Antarctic blue whale 50 years ago, the waters around South Georgia fell silent. Between 1998 and 2018, dedicated whale surveys off the sub-Antarctic island yielded a sole blue whale sighting. But a whale expedition this year and analysis by an international research team resulted in 58 blue whale sightings and numerous acoustic detections, raising hopes that the critically endangered mammal is finally recovering five decades after whaling was banned.