Giant one-celled organisms discovered over six miles below the ocean's surface

mongabay.com ^ | October 23, 2011 | Jeremy Hance

[neverdem]

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Imagine a one-celled organism the size of a mango. It's not science fiction, but fact: scientists have cataloged dozens of giant one-celled creatures, around 4 inches (10 centimeters), in the deep abysses of the world's oceans. But recent exploration of the Mariana Trench has uncovered the deepest record yet of the one-celled behemoths, known as xenophyophores.

Found at 6.6 miles beneath the ocean's surface, the xenophyophores beats the previous record by nearly two miles. The Mariana Trench xenophyophores were discovered by dropcams, developed by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and National Geographic, which are unmanned HD cameras 'dropped' into the deep ocean to record life at the bottom.

Xenophyophore in the Galapagos Rift. Photo by: NOAA.

Previous research has shown that xenophyophores are host to a number of multicellular organisms, meaning that the Mariana Trench could be teeming with life.

"The identification of these gigantic cells in one of the deepest marine environments on the planet opens up a whole new habitat for further study of biodiversity, biotechnological potential and extreme environment adaptation," says Doug Bartlett, the Scripps marine microbiologist who organized the Mariana Trench expedition, in a press release.

Xenophyophores are the largest known single cells, and have been found in great abundance on the sea floor. But given their fragility and deep-water lives, they are incredibly difficult to study and much of their natural history remains mysterious to scientists.

Close-ups of xenophyophores obtained on previous expeditions. Photo credit: Lisa Levin (all except upper right, credit David Checkley)

"As one of very few taxa found exclusively in the deep sea, the xenophyophores are emblematic of what the deep sea offers. They are fascinating giants that are highly adapted to extreme conditions but at the same time are very fragile and poorly studied," explains Lisa Levin, director of the Scripps Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation. "These and many other structurally important organisms in the deep sea need our stewardship as human activities move to deeper waters."

[Anoreth]

Some of us, if I recall correctly, can breathe water?
I believe it must be the Irish blood.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"These and many other structurally important organisms in the deep sea need our stewardship as human activities move to deeper waters."

Translation:

Stop all deep-water drilling now. Save the xenophyophores.

[Tax-chick]

No deep-sea diving after drinking whiskey, please. We’d rather have you than your life insurance settlement!

[Anoreth]

Bill can use it to buy a stupid Ipod to keep his crappy music on.

[DJ MacWoW]

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[adorno]

“...the size of a mango...” - A strange use of comparison.

Would you rather a comparison to an Android?

How big is an Android?

[central_va]

Ok, but do they taste good?

[Bigg Red]

Mark

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks Jet Jaguar. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[redhead]

“A one-celled organism the size of a mango...” Does an ostrich egg count?

[Little Ray]

I’m sure the Democrats have just registered it to vote.

[Rebelbase]

I wonder what it tastes like fried?

[magslinger]

How big is an Android?

About 5'11".

[SunkenCiv]

It’s bloody seafood. It’s bleedin’ seafood flavor. :’)

[Free Vulcan]

Chicken. Always chicken.

[SledgeCS]

I am willing to bet that they have a higher IQ than the average OWS protester.

[JRios1968]

"I, for one, welcome our new single-celled overlords..."

[VanShuyten]

It doesn’t actually say in the article, but I imagine this is more like a slime mold. Many slime molds have multiple nuclei but only one common cell membrane. The largest of these get to be well over 100 sq ft.

[FrogMom]

How do they know that’s a single cell?

[Condor51]

This find of living things in The Mariana Trench is amazing to me
(God sure works in mysterious ways).

At the depth of these things the pressure exerted on them is 15,750 psi or 2,268,000# / Sq Ft. Maybe that's why they're One Celled? A Compound Structure (multi-celled) would be crushed. (this I would spend money for studying)

(the Mariana Trench is one place I'd hate to be dropped into with 'cement shoes'. Though I'd be long dead before reaching bottom the descent wouldn't be pretty.)