Extremophile Living Fossil Found in Cave System

Extremophiles are animals that live in environments that carbon-based animals like us would really struggle in.

In fact, these animals thrive in these places and live in an entirely different system.

One of these previously untouched environments is Ayyalon Cave, which was uncovered in Israel in 2006 by quarry workers.

They had found a series of tunnels and large underground water reservoirs with an entirely untouched ecosystem living inside.

The animals inside are considered ‘living fossils’ because they most closely resemble species that we only know from ancient fossilised remains.

These species had become trapped in the cave environment around 7 million years ago, as the world changed above them.

Because there is no light in the cave, these crustacean creatures survive off of sulphur feeding bacteria.

No species in the cave system have eyes, because why would you in total darkness? And they are all a milky white colour, because again, there’s no evolutionary point in being pretty when nothing around you has eyes.

What is interesting about the decapod species, Typhlocaris ayyaloni Tsurnamal, is that it swims upside down, feeding on the floating bacteria on the surface.

There used to be a unique species of scorpion in the cave too, however researchers believe that aggressive water pumping between 1960 and 1991 dried up the reservoir that it called home. This scorpion is only known from its remains.

The cave system is at threat today as the Israeli authorities want to use it as a run off for flooding waste-water. This would destroy the unique environment of these creatures and activists are hoping the cave system will be designated as a protected reserve instead.