Oxygen is supposed to have driven the evolution of complex life – but the discovery of animals that thrive without it tells a different story
GO WEST, young man! More specifically, go about 200 kilometres west of Crete, then straight down to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea 3.5 kilometres below. There you will find a lake with some extraordinary inhabitants.
Around 6 million years ago when the Mediterranean nearly dried up, vast amounts of salt were deposited on the sea floor. Some of these deposits were exposed about 30,000 years ago. As this salt dissolves, extra-salty, dense water is sinking to the depths, forming a brine lake up to 60 metres deep. Even more surprising than the existence of this lake beneath the sea, however, is what lives in it.
The water in the brine lake does not mix with the water above and so ran out of oxygen ...
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