Life under ice...

[aramis]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100315/ap_on_sc/us_sci_antarctica_sea_life

Amphipod and jellyfish spotted...

Where there's complex multicellulars, there's ecosystem.

 

[G. Kashkanun Anderson]

As a follow-up, here's someone who came up with the idea that an ice world's ecosystem might thrive on the massive radiation given off by your average gas giant.

I've been working on a world out in Meshan Sector that's turned out to be one of those seemingly-ubiquitous gas giant orbiters. Since it's also a high-pop hydro-A world, I figured giving it a thick layer of ice would provide adequate natural protection from the GG's massive radiation levels. I'm thinkin' a collection of arcologies jammed like giant studs right through the ice layer, with a network of undersea cavitation transports connecting them all.