[Zuljin]

http://www.huji.ac.il/cgi-bin/dovrut/dovrut_search_eng.pl?mesge114907691205976587

According to the article they've found several new species, all of which are totally blind.
The species seems to have adapted to living in the dark.

Also goes to show there are still many areas that are still unexplored here on Earth

[aldo_14]

Ah, the cave thing.  Yep, fascinating.

[Mars]

They look like shrimp, or scorpions.

If they were shut off from outside nutrients, and they had no light, how did they survive?

[Flipside]

Interesting to see how, through being isolated, they have evolved to adapt to their environment

[aldo_14]

They look like shrimp, or scorpions.

If they were shut off from outside nutrients, and they had no light, how did they survive?

They evolved.  Specifically, the survivors were probably sufficiently generalised to survive in the conditions - not survive well, but survive enough to become dominant and thereform form the evolutionary ancestors.  Y'know, 5% better non-visual senses, or more efficient body shape, etc.   Something that became an advantage.

[Janos]

It's not really unique except in sense that quite a few large cave complexes have their own endemic species* and stuff. The convergent evolution and all that jazz. Well yeah it's closed and isolated but nowhere near the uniqueness of the black smokers or cold seeps or heavily acidic mountain lakes or other really extreme places.

*see The Descent

[Flipside]

Yup, theres some real freakish stuff hanging around Volcanic vents at the bottom of the Ocean. The diversity of life is amazing.

[Janos]

Yup, theres some real freakish stuff hanging around Volcanic vents at the bottom of the Ocean. The diversity of life is amazing.

One of the bazillion things that make the hot vents so interesting is the fact that they are quite short-lived yet highly localized phenomenon. I wonder if anyone has any idea how the different highly specialized species living around said vents actually disperse? Is it the standard "give birth to ****load of offpsring and pray someone finds something" or a more detailed and fine-tuned mechanism? Distances between two active vent locations can be significant even in human terms.

[Flipside]

Well, I seem to recall a theory that the animals may 'ride' the hot water rising from the vent, which can be carried for a large distance before it cools enough to kill the creature. Only a small percentage would find another vent, but if there are thousands of creatures, only a small percent need to.

[IceFire]

If none of that freaks you out about life....I read maybe a year back that scientists had discovered a form of bacteria that just loves the core of nuclear reactors.  Thrives in the high radiation environment.

[Flipside]

I certainly remember the Oklo 'Natural' nuclear reactors...

http://www.alamut.com/proj/98/nuclearGarden/bookTexts/Lovelock_Oklo.html

[Goober5000]

They look like shrimp, or scorpions.

If they were shut off from outside nutrients, and they had no light, how did they survive?

They evolved.  Specifically, the survivors were probably sufficiently generalised to survive in the conditions - not survive well, but survive enough to become dominant and thereform form the evolutionary ancestors.  Y'know, 5% better non-visual senses, or more efficient body shape, etc.   Something that became an advantage.

I don't think that's what he was asking.  If it was a sealed system, and no sunlight could reach them, what did they use for energy?  Did they just absorb heat out of the rocks, or something?

[Flipside]

Probably lived off the mineral content of the chalk as it dissolved in the water, much like creatures that live near volcanic vents.

[Black Wolf]

Chemotrophic bacteria. Probably digesting sulphur or methane or something bubbling up from the subsurface.

[aldo_14]

Dissolved sulphide, according to this, with larger organisms evolving to live off the sulphide 'eating' bacteria.

EDIT; whoops, was thinking of hot vents for some reason

Left it, because it's still interesting.