During an expedition in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of approximately 6200 meters, researchers discovered peculiar black cocoons. Analysis revealed that they contained a species of flatworm previously unknown to science.
While exploring the Pacific Ocean, scientists stumbled upon enigmatic black cocoons attached to a rock at a depth of about 6200 meters. Subsequent analysis indicated that the cocoons harbored a species of flatworm previously undiscovered by science.
This finding was reported by Popular Mechanics.
The discovery was made by researchers from the University of Tokyo and Hokkaido University during an investigation of the abyssal pelagic zone of the Pacific Ocean using a remotely operated vehicle. At a depth of roughly 6200 meters, they observed black, tar-like spheres affixed to a rock.
Uncertain of their find, Yasunori Kano, a marine explorer from the University of Tokyo who operated the underwater vehicle, decided to retrieve samples to the surface for further examination. Although most of the cocoons were damaged, four remained intact and were transferred to biologists at Hokkaido University.
Through their research, scientists determined that the mysterious spheres were not eggs, as initially hypothesized, but rather cocoons. Inside each cocoon were several flatworms.
“When I first saw them, as I had never seen flatworm cocoons before (and didn’t know what they looked like), I thought they might be protists or something. Under a stereomicroscope, I cut one open, and a milky liquid poured out. By blowing out this liquid with a pipette, I found fragile white bodies inside the shell, and for the first time, I realized they were cocoons of Platyhelminthes,” Keiichi Kakui, a biologist at Hokkaido University and co-author of the study, told IFLScience.
According to him, the discovery was unexpected, as science knows virtually nothing about flatworms inhabiting such extreme depths.
Further DNA analysis confirmed that the discovered organisms belong to a previously undescribed species of the phylum Platyhelminthes. The researchers note that this is the deepest reliably confirmed find of free-living flatworms.
Previously, a representative of this phylum was found at a depth of about 5200 meters, but it was attached to a piece of wood, making it uncertain whether it lived at that depth. Before this, the deepest confirmed findings were flatworms discovered at approximately 3200 meters.
Despite living in the extreme conditions of the ocean abyss, the new species is externally almost indistinguishable from its shallow-water relatives.
Recall, the Black Sea has turned turquoise, clearly visible in NASA satellite images. Scientists explain that this phenomenon is linked to a mass bloom of a specific type of phytoplankton.
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