Scientists from New Zealand have added to earlier reports of strange, exotic and unknown creatures inhabiting Antarctic waters.

The researchers on the Tangaro, a research vessel operated by the country's National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research  (NIWA), reported finding starfish more than half a metre across and massive meadows of sea lilies.

Tunicates, animals that resemble glass tulips, were photographed in Antarctic waters by Australian scientists taking part in a census of marine life in January.
(Martin Riddle, Australian Antarctic division/Associated Press)

The ship returned to New Zealand on Thursday after a seven-week voyage to collect samples of marine life in the Ross Sea, a large bay near Antarctica south of New Zealand.

The Tangaro's discoveries — it returned with more than 30,000 samples —add to the January report from Australian Antarctic marine researchers, who said they found "huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders the size of dinner plates."

Both surveys are part of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life, an effort to survey life in the Antarctic Ocean to establish base lines to measure the impact of forces like climate change.

The New Zealanders may have found as many as eight new mollusks, pending a review by experts to ensure they really are new species, said Stu Hanchet, a NIWA scientist.
 
Hanchet was excited by the sea lilies.

"Some of these big meadows of sea lilies, I don't think anybody has seen before," he said.

With files from the Associated Press