Unusual Life Found in American Great Lakes

Scientists at Grand Valley State University have discovered some unusual species in the waters of Lake Huron, life forms more suited to extreme environments than freshwater lakes.

In underwater sinkholes 66 feet below the surface made by dissolving parts of an underlying seabed exist large purple mats of cyanobacteria and streamers of other microbial life living in massive physical colonies. The water in these sinkholes is oxygen-free and salty, similar to unfriendlier environments such as hydrothermal vents or the bottom of permanently frozen lakebeds in Antarctica. Such water composition is hostile to most forms of marine life.

These sinkholes act as basins to catch dead and decaying plant and animal matter, providing a microenvironment for life such as cyanobacteria to thrive. In this environment, microorganisms use chemical means rather than photosynthesis to break down sulfur compounds for food.

These results were published in a recent edition of Eos.

Source: LiveScience