Prehistoric Cave Discovered;
HECK! This is a tad bit TOTALLY exciting! Someone must have almost been wetting themselves with exhilaration! Geographically isolated ecosystems are increasingly rare and untouched ones even more so!
The title should really say “At least 8 new species thrive inside” because it is really too soon to know what else is down there.
Interesting final note on this topic (for now!)
HECK! This is a tad bit TOTALLY exciting! Someone must have almost been wetting themselves with exhilaration! Geographically isolated ecosystems are increasingly rare and untouched ones even more so!
The title should really say “At least 8 new species thrive inside” because it is really too soon to know what else is down there.
Quarry workers digging recently in central Israel broke through bedrock and stumbled into an entirely new and unique ecosystem, scientists announced Wednesday. The cavern had been sealed off from the outside world for millions of years.Of course this unique and special ecosystem is ruined now *sad*. Such is the bittersweet nature of such special discoveries - the downfall and destruction of the beauty of their remoteness to us.
No eyes is creepy (e.g so weirdie and distant from what is comfortable to me) - liek that blind wolf spider someone found in a dark lava tunnel in Hawaii a while back. Liek those creepy deep deep DEEP ocean fish you see sometimes. Totally alien. It makes my brain twinkle to think about them!Four of the new species are water-dwelling crustaceans. Four others are land-based invertebrates—creatures without spines.
Also found in the cave were bacteria that serve as the basic food source in the self-contained community. As might be expected of species confined to a pitch-black cavern for millions of years, none of the newly discovered animals had eyes.
Interesting final note on this topic (for now!)
Unusually, two of the crustaceans found in the cave are saltwater species. The two others are of a type found in fresh or brackish (slightly salty) water.Today’s Mediterranean Sea is a remnant of the Neotethys ocean basin, which was formed during the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods, about 200 million years ago.The current mix of freshwater and saltwater species in Ayalon Cave may be the result of events that occurred when what is now Israel was covered by that ancient sea.This adds an interesting dimension for my further thoughts…
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