Extreme Shrimp Could Help Us Understand Alien Life – Video

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Researchers studying a species of shrimp that live near hydrothermal vents in the Caribbean are hoping to better understand the possibility of alien life.

Researchers studying a species of shrimp that live near hydrothermal vents in the Caribbean are hoping to better understand the possibility of alien life.

The hydrothermal vents are 75 hundred feet underwater, and the water temperatures can reach up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit.

Water an inch away from the vents is cool enough for the shrimp species to live in the extreme conditions.

Bacteria living inside of the vents produce carbohydrates that the blind shrimp feed on.

No sunlight reaches the hydrothermal vents, so the only energy that is provided comes from chemicals creating bacteria, which in turn provide sustenance for shrimp and other organisms deep in the ocean.

When there isn’t enough bacteria being produced, the shrimp survive by eating other crustaceans, including each other.

Experts are studying the shrimp because of their ability to live in extreme conditions means it could be possible for alien life to exist in places with similar environments.

A subsurface ocean exists on Jupiter’s moon Europa that experts think might be able to support alien life forms.

Emma Versteegh, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion laboratory is quoted as saying: “Whether an animal like this could exist on Europa heavily depends on the actual amount of energy that’s released there, through hydrothermal vents.”

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