First Oxygen-free Animals Found

[visualizer]

BBC News - First oxygen-free animals found (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8609246.stm)


Scientists have found the first animals that can survive and reproduce entirely without oxygen, deep on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea.

...

Considering the implications of creatures which can exist without oxygen, she said that greater study of animal-microbe interactions in the extreme environment of Earth's oceans could help answer questions about the possibility of life existing on other planets with different atmospheres.

I think this discovery is fantastic! It shows we have much better chances of discovering life near a neighboring star :nlol:

[Zapgun]

Bah!

Some bacteria breathe hydrogen, not oxygen - Journal of Chemical Education (ACS Publications and Division of Chemical Education) (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed008p151.2)

This isn't new, its been known for years.

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Edit: I am an idiot, I just read the article.

Now I am stunned O_o, behold the wonders of life!

[Spock]

Its just called 'Anerobic' respiration, its quite common actually. BBC just wanted to impress the masses.

[Zapgun]

Truly I am a member of the masses, and I have been stunned....but then I did some research, these guys have been known about since the 1970's >.<

[visualizer]

Its just called 'Anerobic' respiration, its quite common actually. BBC just wanted to impress the masses.

It's not common among non-bacterial organisms. This is the first that we have discovered.


I did some research, these guys have been known about since the 1970's >.<

Loriciferans have been known about for a while, but according to the article, Spinoloricus Cinzia is a new find (their lack of the need for oxygen being one of the the key differences)

[Spock]

It's not common among non-bacterial organisms. This is the first that we have discovered.


I was refering to micro-organism, sorry I didn't make that clear.

[Neytiri]

Very interesting... Considering that we slash and burn more species into extinction than we identify, each day.... I'm not surprised about how little we know and how taken aback we are to make these discoveries... Life is extremely diverse... it finds mindboggling ways of adapting and persevering...

[Pandora's Boxed?]

Astonishing... anaerobic bacteria have been known about forever, indeed all life on this planet was anaerobic once but multicellular life - thats extraordinary.

[rmartin345]

Traitors to their oxygen-breathing kin. Joking aside, very positive development. Opens up more possibilities for alien life on distant worlds or moons where O2 isn't the air of choice.This does increase the pool of worlds and ecosystems to investigate for future xenobiology discoveries.That's really interesting because I thought all life required oxygen and water to survive.