Nature & Environment

Worm with 3 sexes discovered in Mono Lake

By T.K. Randall
September 29, 2019 ·  5 comments

Mono Lake is home to some rather unique species. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Vezoy Formed around 760,000 years ago in an endorheic basin, California's Mono Lake is a particularly valuable place for biological study due to its unique chemistry.

The lake's water has an exceptionally high level of alkaline content because the lack of any sort of outlet has resulted in a large accumulation of salts.

This has lead to the development of several unique species that can be found nowhere else on Earth.

This latest discovery, which was made by researchers at the California Institute of Technology, was one of eight new microscopic worm species recently found in the lake.Unlike other worms, the new species, which has been named Auanema sp., has three sexes - male, female and hermaphrodite (which has partial reproductive organs of both genders).

The species is also unusual in that it gives birth to live young - a unique trait among nematodes.

These unique features are likely to be key to its survival in the extreme environment of the lake.

"Extremophiles can teach us so much about innovative strategies for dealing with stress," said graduate student Pei-Yin Shih. "Our study shows we still have much to learn about how these 1,000-celled animals have mastered survival in extreme environments."

Source: Science Alert | Comments (5)

Tags: Mono Lake, Worm