Parasite, Henneguya salminicola, that lives in the muscle cells of fish, according to a new research doesn't breath oxygen to live. (Photo Courtesy: Livescience.com)
A new discovery of an 'alien-like' marine animal has left scientists baffled. As per reports, the new creature that has been discovered by marine biologists does breathe oxygen. This is the first of a kind discovery where a living animal does not need oxygen to survive. Henneguya Salminicola, the tiny organism that resembles sperm cells, reportedly has two tails and 'alien-like eyes'. All this is only visible under a microscope as the organism is very small, reports Live Science.
Researchers are coming up with new theories regarding the origination of H Salminicola. Some say that the creature has descended from Jellyfish in the Myxazoa family and over generations rid itself of many of the features resembling earthly creatures.
“They have lost their tissue, their nerve cells, their muscles, everything. And now we find they have lost their ability to breathe,” Dorothée Huchon, an evolutionary biologist at Tel Aviv University told Live Science.
Though H. Salminicola does contain a structure similar to mitochondria, it does not have the ability to metabolise oxygen, Huchon noted.
Researchers have not yet been able to explain how the animal survives without breathing, but some suggest that it is using energy it takes directly from other sea creatures it infects.
