A team of 20 scientists from seven universities have found new biological species this October in Los Jameos del Agua, inside the Atlantis tunnel, so far "unprecedented on the planet." The biologist Alejandro Martínez, coordinator of this expedition, pointed out this Tuesday in a press conference that, as a result of these investigations inside the volcanic tube, it has been possible to find about 200 unique species in the Canary Islands, of which more than half are endemic to Lanzarote. Among these, he asserted, "at least 3 are unique in the world."
For this young scientist, who is finishing his doctorate at the University in Denmark, this finding is "important." The new discoveries join that of December 2009, when this team of European and American researchers found the annelid (worm) of the genus Protodrilus.
"The species has undergone an evolution to be able to swim and eat in Atlantis, unlike the relatives of this group of Protodrilus, who live among the grains of sand in marine waters and feed on organic matter and detritus deposited on the bottom. The Jameos species is capable of swimming in the static water column of the tunnel, feeding while floating and swimming with the help of huge palps, like a kind of antennae it has on its head," said Alejandro Martínez.
For her part, the vice president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Ástrid Pérez, pointed out that this discovery means that "this is the largest scientific research carried out in all of Lanzarote in the last 50 years." This finding coincides with the 45th anniversary of the opening of Los Jameos del Agua, after the works designed by César Manrique in 1966 for this tourist center inside the volcanic tube.
"The strangest in the world"
Now, this research on the family of the genus Protodrilus is joined by the new being that is very similar morphologically to Speleonectes ondinae, another relative found in the same place in 1985. However, the DNA tests carried out by the team of Stefan Koenemann at the University of Hannover have shown that the specimen itself constitutes a new species. The researchers believe that the divergence between them began millions of years ago when the tunnel they inhabit was formed.
The crustaceans of the class Remipedia are among the strangest in the world. Until now their existence was known in the Bahamas, Bermuda, Australia and Lanzarote. Among the fauna of that volcanic tube that arose after the eruption of the Volcán de la Corona, there also lives an autochthonous species of that habitat, the annelid (worm) of the genus Protodrilus. This finding was successfully announced by the young biologist Alejandro Martínez at the invertebrate morphology congress held recently at North American University of Harvard.
Until now the existence of the jameíto was known, the name by which the white and blind crab is commonly known (Munidopsis polymorpha) that is endemic to Jameos del Agua and that was discovered at the end of the 19th century. This research has had the support and collaboration of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, through the Art, Culture and Tourism Centers and the Ministry of the Environment and the Biosphere Reserve Office.
RELATED NEWS
[An investigation reveals the existence of a "unique in the world" worm in the volcanic tube of Los Jameos del Agua->60679]
