Scientists at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) suggest that tiny shrimp living in the extreme environment near the hydrothermal vents of the Caribbean Sea may hold clues to alien life in other planetary bodies.
The shrimp species Rimicaris hybisae live in groups around the edges of hydrothermal vents, which are about 7,500 feet underwater and where temperature can reach up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit, about 399 degrees Celsius. Moreover, these regions are extremely dark due to the lack of sunlight.
Scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) reveal that these shrimp crawl on rocks that spew hot water.
An unusual form of bacteria lives inside the mouth and specially evolved gills of these shrimp. The bacteria enables the shrimp to bear extreme environments due to chemosynthesis, which is a process that involves producing energy in the absence of sunlight. Chemosynthesis also includes organisms that obtain energy from a type of chemical reaction. The shrimp feed off these bacteria.
"You go along the ocean bottom and there's nothing, effectively," says Max Coleman, senior research scientist at NASA's JPL. "And then suddenly we get these hydrothermal vents and a massive ecosystem. It's just literally teeming with life."
The researchers suggest that the Rimicaris hybisae is by far the most abundant shrimp species in the hydrothermal vent region of the Caribbean Sea. Scientists observed the shrimp but did not find the shrimp practicing cannibalism. However, in areas with sparse population, scientists believe that these creatures become carnivorous as they found body parts of their own species in the gut of the shrimp.
NASA JPL scientists claim that if the shrimp can survive the extreme environments of the hydrothermal vents, then they can also survive in other planetary objects such as Europa, Jupiter's moon, which has ice as well as a subsurface ocean.
Emma Versteegh, a postdoctoral fellow at JPL, suggests that even though the Rimicaris hybisae survives in the extreme conditions of the Earth, whether it can survive on Europa depends significantly on the amount of energy that gets released by the hydrothermal vents there.
Coleman added that for a major part of the Earth's history, life existed on the planet only in the form of microbial life. The best chance for humans to find life on Europa will be in the form of microbial life as well.
NASA's JPL has also released the video below, which gives some details about the extreme shrimp.
