New Worm Species Found Thriving in Utah’s Extreme Salt Lake
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📰 The quick summary: A tiny roundworm discovered living inside rocky structures on the bed of Utah’s Great Salt Lake has been officially confirmed as a new species, expanding what scientists know about animal life in one of North America’s most extreme environments.
📈 One key stat: Great Salt Lake’s water can be three to seven times saltier than the ocean, making the discovery of a multicellular animal thriving there a meaningful surprise for scientists studying the lake’s ecosystem.
💬 One key quote: “With its discovery, nematodes become the third known group of multicellular animals living in the lake’s hypersaline waters, alongside brine shrimp and brine flies.”
1️⃣ The big picture: Utah’s Great Salt Lake is one of North America’s most extreme environments, with water that can reach three to seven times the salinity of the ocean. For years, scientists believed only brine shrimp and brine flies could survive in its open waters. In 2022, researchers began sampling rock-like structures called microbialites on the lakebed and found thousands of microscopic worms living inside them. After three years of imaging and DNA analysis, scientists confirmed that at least one of those worms represents a species never before described by science, named Diplolaimelloides woaabi. Published in the Journal of Nematology, the discovery shows that the lake’s animal life is richer than anyone had previously realized.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: Finding a new species in such a well-studied and extreme environment is a reminder that nature still holds surprises, even in places scientists thought they understood well. Nematodes like D. woaabi are known bioindicators, meaning you can track changes in water quality, salinity, and pollution by monitoring their populations, giving researchers a living sensor for the lake’s health. Genetic data also hints at a second, still unnamed species hiding in the same dataset, so the discovery may be just the beginning of a fuller picture of life in the lake. On top of that, the species name honors the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, weaving Indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage into the scientific record in a meaningful way. As Great Salt Lake faces ongoing pressure from shrinking water levels, having new biological markers to track ecosystem shifts gives conservationists a more precise tool to detect early warning signs.
3️⃣ What’s next: Researchers plan to investigate whether the genetic data points to a second, undescribed nematode species associated with the same microbialites. Scientists also want to explore how D. woaabi arrived in the lake, with two leading ideas being ancient marine origins or transport by migratory birds. Monitoring how the species responds to changing salinity levels as the lake continues to shrink will be a key focus going forward.
Read the full story here: ECOticias – In 2022, they descended to the bottom of Utah’s Great Salt Lake and found a “worm” that, according to the textbooks, should not exist there and is now officially a new species to science
