Posted on 10/21/2011 9:39:48 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Gigantic amoebas have been found in the Mariana Trench, the deepest region on Earth.
During a July 2011 voyage to the Pacific Ocean chasm, researchers with Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and National Geographic engineers deployed untethered landers, called dropcams, equipped with digital video and lights to explore the largely mysterious region of the deep sea.
The team documented the deepest known existence of xenophyophores, single-celled animals exclusively found in deep-sea environments. Xenophyophores are noteworthy for their size, with individual cells often exceeding 4 inches (10 centimeters), their extreme abundance on the seafloor and their role as hosts for a variety of organisms.
Extreme environment, extreme creature
The researchers spotted the life forms at depths up to 6.6 miles (10,641 meters) within the Sirena Deep of the Mariana Trench. The previous depth record for xenophyophores was approximately 4.7 miles (7,500 m) in the New Hebrides Trench, although sightings in the deepest portion of the Mariana Trench have been reported.
Scientists say xenophyophores are the largest individual cells in existence. Recent studies indicate that by trapping particles from the water, xenophyophores can concentrate high levels of lead, uranium and mercury and are thus likely resistant to large doses of heavy metals. They also are well suited to a life of darkness, low temperature and high pressure in the deep sea.
Scripps ocean engineer Kevin Hardy (right) and marine technician Josh Manger prepare to test Hardy's deep-sea lander at Scripps' Nimitz Marine Facility. Credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego
"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," said Doug Bartlett, the Scripps marine microbiologist who organized the expedition.
(Excerpt) Read more at ouramazingplanet.com ...
IIRC, the giant amoeba that ate the Enterprise was 11,000 miles across.
are they 4 inches on the sea floor? or do they expand to 4 inches when brought up to sea level?
democrats will try to register them to vote
Yog.
I think it said just one of it’s cells exceeded 4 inches. Thus my curiosity was piqued. Reminds me of the song: “The Amoeba that Ate Cincinnati”
That's all they are is one cell.
Sothoth.
H’EE-L’GEB!
[this isn’t going to end well, you know]
SO Cincinnati is safe for now....
Give me one cell and one cell only, Vasily.
Not touchin’ that comment with a 10 foot pole.
>;]
Are the amoebas looking for residuals from James Cameron for The Abyss?
When I was in high school, there was a one-act play that scared the bejeebers out of me. The Amoeba. The four-foot amoeba. Big enough to skeletonize its victims in three seconds of pitch black.
Very well staged. Still creeps me out more than thirty years later - Hallowe'en coming up again.
So four inches is just fine - you don't think they swarm like piranhas, do you?
LOL
I forgot all about that movie.
I wish I could.
Does anyone have any idea how large the amoeba that ate the Enterprise was?
Go rent Disney’s “The Black Hole”.
That’ll purge the other one for a while.
:)
Didn’t Kirk give it something like an intergalactic Ipecac so the amoeba would barf them back up?
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