Discovered a bizarre life, eating poisonous gas in a flooded cave in Mexico

The Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) is one of the most prominent places in history: It is the land where the meteorite falls that destroyed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

However, the entire area has many caves and unexplored deep holes. A recent study shows that some caves are full of unusual life.

The research team explored - led by Texas A & M University in Galveston and the US Geological Survey (USGS), conducting a comprehensive ecological study of Ox Bel Ha cave system, running along the northeast coast of the peninsula.

Diagram of underground cave system.(Vietnamese: Cam Mai).

They found that there were bacteria living in low oxygen and in the dark. There are not many organic substances falling from above to eat. Instead, they live by consuming invisible dispersing materials, including: carbon and methane gas.

The team explained that these bacteria are "living sources" for the entire underground ecosystem. They take nutrition from some crustaceans that they live with.

The international team of scientists explains that for example, about 21% of a shrimp's diet is methane.

Unlike in the deep ocean, the methane gas here emerges from the system and the . This methane gas maze forms below the surface layer of forest soil.

Finally, it flows down under the flooded caves and forms the basis for this strange ecosystem.

Methane seems strange to us walking on the ground and breathing oxygen, but it is really an important component for life in the harsh environment of the undiscovered world.

Hidden beneath the Arctic permafrost and vast Antarctic ice sheets contain methanogen.(Illustration).

It is known that there are many areas deep in the ocean, hidden under the Arctic permafrost and vast Antarctic ice sheets containing methanogen , microorganisms belonging to the ancient crown of life producing gas. methane.

The ecstatic consuming ecology of Ox Bel Ha creates a happy new episode for the life story on the planet.

Although this is a very interesting discovery of evolutionary ecologists, it highlights what is worrisome on the world ocean today: The amount of carbon dioxide and methane increases in the ocean world - largely due to, the amount of oxygen is decreasing.

" Reducing oxygen is a growing concern. We are investigating the processes in this cave system similar to what is happening in the process," said USGS biology co-author John Pohlman . global ocean ".

In short, methane is suitable for extremely resistant microbes, but the more substances that enter the oceans, the less likely it will be that other forms of life exist for a long time.