First species of Yeti crab named Kiwa Tyleri found in Antarctica

Team of British scientists have discovered the first species of Yeti crab from hydrothermal vent systems in Antarctica. Study in this regard was published in the journal Plos One.
Researches have christened this species as Kiwa Tyleri after world-renowned British deep-sea and polar biologist professor Paul Tyler.
Characteristics of Kiwa Tyleri

• Kiwa Tyleri species are found usually in warm-water refuge of hydrothermal vent systems surrounded by the cold polar waters in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica.
• It lives in very limited sized habitat near the warm-water hydrothermal vent site.
• This species is unable to move between vent sites because of the hostile, low temperature and extreme polar environment. So they, occur in highly-packed densities.
• For food it is dependent on chemosynthetic bacteria which overgrow the surfaces of hydrothermal vent chimneys.
• Its body is densely covered by bristles known as setae. It has fur like appearance due to bacteria living on it.

Terms

• Hydrothermal vent systems: It is a fissure releasing geothermally heated water which comes out on planet’s surface. Commonly found in active volcanic places.
• Chemosynthetic bacteria: They obtain energy from exothermic oxidation of inorganic or simple organic compounds in absence of light. This energy is utilized for metabolic processes.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2015