Is it believable that an animal can exist without oxygen? Of course, there are microorganisms called anaerobic microbes which survive without oxygen, but a multi-cellular animal, without cellular respiration too can survive seems to be far-fetched but it is true. The amazing animal is Henneguya salmincola, a parasite that lives in certain fishes. It has less than 10 cells. It has no locomotion power. To survive, it has to live inside the other organism. It does not have mitochondrial genes (lacks mitochondria which instruct cells to utilize oxygen as energy source).
Inside the body of the marine fishes, it could have evolved and adapted to the external environment. It is fed by the nutrients inside the host’s body. It takes energy from the cell of the fish. It is possible that it may be using processed food. This is done quick and fast.
This discovery changed the perspective of animal behaviors. It is a radical shift in animal biology. It gets its energy from other way which is not known to us.
Our thinking about life can alter. Animals too can adapt much more amazingly than we can ever think about. How animals must be adapting in adverse circumstances when they inhabit the seabed? The issue relevant is for astrobiology.
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