Lyssianasid Amphipod aka Antarctic Shrimp Discovered by NASA 600 Feet Below Ice
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010When scientists from NASA dug a hole through the arctic ice to bury a video camera 600 feet (183 meters) below it, they didn’t expect to find any higher life forms in this place where no sun rays ever make it though. To their surprise, an Antarctic Shrimp known as Lyssianasid Amphipod came to check their camera out and even parked itself on a camera cable.
The discovery of the shrimp like Lyssianasid Amphipod as well as a jellyfish at the underbelly of the Antactic ice sheet opens new questions on where else could higher life forms be discovered. NASA ice scientists admit that they expected to find nothing more than certain types of microbes in a place where light never shines so what was Lyssianasid Amphipod doing there?
The 3 inch long Lyssianasid Amphipod is not a shrimp, just a distant relative that looks like one. Some scientists speculate that sub freezing, permanently dark waters below Antarctic ice sheet may not be the permanent dwelling of this Lyssianasid Amphipod, stating that the orange critter may have swam there from great distances.
The biggest puzzle remains – what does the Lyssianasid Amphipod feed on in this hostile environment. The reason why scientists didn’t expect to find nothing but microbes down there is that they are capable of feeding themselves on chemicals dissolved in ocean water, but higher life forms such as a shrimp or a jellyfish need more than that to survive.
The discovery of Lyssianasid Amphipod comes to show how little we know about the planet we tend to think we know everything about. If advanced life forms exist in these harsh conditions, could there be any on distant planets? Is Lyssianasid Amphipod just the beginning of it? Could there be much more to discover in human unchallenged waters deep below Antarctic ice?
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