In 2010 , an outside team of investigator discovered what was considered thefirst animalto live and thrive without O . The discovery is now being interview by a new small-arm of enquiry direct in the same domain .
A squad of research worker , direct by Joan Bernhard from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution , consider that the discovered beast were deadened and that their consistency had been take in over by “ bodysnatcher ” bacteria , which kick in the opinion that the wight were active . These finding are published in the journalBMC Biology .
At the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea , there are some areas in which saltwater lakes chassis . These zone , send for deep hypersaline anoxic basins ( DHAB ) , are found on the seafloor , 3 kilometers ( 2 international mile ) from the Earth’s surface . They are so slow that they stay separated from the above seawater and are completely devoid of oxygen .
In 2010 , it was discovered that these DHAB had metazoan , little multicellular animals , in them . The investigator , led by Roberto Danovaro , also fall upon a new metal money called loriciferans that dwelled in these saltwater pool . In thestudy , they understand the finding of the metazoans as “ the result of a rain of cadavers that sink to the anoxic zone from adjacent oxygenated areas , ” but they discovered that the loriciferans were metabolically active .
" We have recognise for a foresightful time that some metazoans populate uttermost anoxic habitat on a periodical or even semi - lasting basis , " Bernhard read in astatement .
" But scientists have thought that metazoan ’s gamy - energy activities , such as reproductive memory , would require oxygen . If these loriciferans spend their whole life and reproduce in a zero - oxygen environment , we would have to reconsider our concepts of beast metabolism . It was important to revisit the DHABs to confirm and understand those previous remarkable findings . "
They revisited the DHABs in 2011 and collect new samples . They discovered that the metazoans in the brine lakes showed no indication of being awake or regurgitate . They did found loriciferans living in normal ( control ) ground , but not in the DHABs . They guess that the difference between the two environments is too extreme for these metazoans to have adapt to live in both environment .
" One substitute scenario , " the source wrote in the newspaper , " is that remnant metazoa body were inhabit by [ living ] anaerobic bacteria and/or archaea , " which they have informally prognosticate " bodysnatchers . "
