New Mexico Amphipod Species Discovered Near Carlsbad Caverns National Park

This undated photo provided by the Bureau of Land Management shows a newly discovered species of freshwater amphipod. The agency announced the discovery Tuesday, April 17, 2012, saying the new species was recently found in a subterranean pool inside a gypsum cave near Carlsbad, N.M. (AP Photo/Bureau of Land Management, Randy Gibson)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Scientists have discovered a new shrimp-like species in a gypsum cave in southeastern New Mexico, only a few dozen miles from the famous caves at Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

The species of amphipod was unknown before being discovered about a month ago in the Burton Flats area east of Carlsbad, said Jim Goodbar, the Bureau of Land Management's senior cave specialist. The agency announced the discovery Tuesday.

Blind, about a half-inch long and almost translucent, the amphipod was found in a subterranean pool inside a cave no more than 80 feet from the surface. The cave had been explored before, but samples had never been taken of the water until a biological inventory was done as part of plans to expand potash mining in the area.

For Goodbar and other cave researchers, short of rocketing into space, the depths of the earth represent one of the last unexplored frontiers for humankind.

"You never know what you're going to find down there," Goodbar said. "One of the interesting things about this is these guys, these critters have been down there for tens of thousands of years, millions of years and we're just getting around to finding them."

More surveys of the area are planned, Goodbar said.

The new species has not been named, but officials said it has been grouped with the Parabogidiella (para-bo-GIDDY-ella) genus, which was first described in 1980 by John Holsinger with the Biological Sciences Department at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

An amphipod expert, Holsinger said Tuesday the species found near Carlsbad is different from the other single species in the genus. He is currently working on its complete description.

Members of the Bogidiellidea family have been documented in parts of Mexico, but the new species represents the family's most northern extent, he said.

Scientists know little about the new species. They're already making guesses at whether it's carnivorous or feeds on bacteria, minerals or vegetative bits that find their way into the cave's water.

"They're very cryptic," Holsinger said. "These things are usually found in groundwater and you can very rarely observe them firsthand."

Goodbar said the Bureau of Land Management is planning for a series of monitoring wells near the Burton Flats caves to keep an eye on water levels once the mining company begins pumping water for its proposed operations. The agency is developing mitigation plans that call for an end to pumping in the area if a certain threshold is reached.

The BLM is working on balancing protection of the new species and the area's water supply with development of the region's vast potash resources, Goodbar said.

The water in the caves is replenished by rainwater soaking down through cracks and crevices in the Earth's surface and fresh water from a shallow underground aquifer.

"I think the implications are that we really need to protect the groundwater aquifers because there are species there that live nowhere else on Earth," Goodbar said.

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Comments

[kernalsan]

10:35 AM on 04/19/2012

Why are you covering this? For god'd sake please stop.

If R. Limbaugh finds out about these shrimp he'll devour all of them! Raw.

Think of the little ones, please.

[Justgo4it]

11:36 AM on 04/19/2012

seems you have mistaken this for the political section, but it's typical seems some of you political junkies are whipped and feel the whole HP is for ones politcal views. guess what? it's not, so get over it.

[kernalsan]

12:18 PM on 04/19/2012

I love that bossy attitude!

But can't you spare some christian charity for us political addicts?

[Redv14]

10:11 AM on 04/19/2012

Evolution is at work. It is also working on us. Wlho knows what kinds of changes will be evident in humans hundreds of years from now due to all of the pollution we are causing right now.

[Sh00Fly]

10:29 AM on 04/19/2012

These days it seems as if many humans are experiencing, de-evolution.
8-)
8-(

[Justgo4it]

11:38 AM on 04/19/2012

um. speak for yourself, alot of us aren't.

[Justgo4it]

12:22 PM on 04/19/2012

I am not all bent out of shape. was just adding to the discussion is all.

[AbeMartin]

10:06 AM on 04/19/2012

Yummmmy!  We are right in the middle of Crawfish season and along the Gulf Coast thousands of restaurants are selling the little shuck'm and suck'm critters.  Now, people can look to a whole new species to eat.

[Justgo4it]

11:39 AM on 04/19/2012

lol. that's if they don't eat you first. they have no idea is they are carnivores, but hey good luck!

[Murdale]

09:19 AM on 04/19/2012

We are discoverinng new species all the time. Heaven knows however how many species we haven't heard about have become extinct lately due to man's activities.

[AbeMartin]

10:10 AM on 04/19/2012

There are several newly discovered species of near-humans occupying the secret offices in the basements of the U.S. Capitol.  No, that's incorrect.  I was thinking about H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu.  The things in the Capitol are the Members of Congress who are not Representative Allen West's 78-81 card carrying members of the Communist Party.

[Justgo4it]

11:40 AM on 04/19/2012

take it to the political section. we don't care!!

[Jorgelzorro]

09:07 AM on 04/19/2012

Poor shrimp,after humans pump out the water and kill it.O well!

[karen lyons kalmenson]

07:20 AM on 04/19/2012

very cool
and glad to
know,
now time
to get
outta dodge and
let them go

[oldwolf49]

04:52 AM on 04/19/2012

Keep BP away from there or they will end up like the gulf shrimp.

[Justgo4it]

11:41 AM on 04/19/2012

so you know what BP stands for? and they will not even go there, they know better.

[In your Rear View Mirror]

09:55 PM on 04/18/2012

Go for another $500k shrimp treadmill study? Little buggars ought to be good for something other than a reason not to build a house within a couple hundred miles of his cave.

[greenbabel]

09:30 AM on 04/19/2012

Everything is good for something, you may just not be aware of it or the beneficiary of it. Evolution does not center on what's good for one species, even if that species is human.

[eric14]

04:27 PM on 04/18/2012

Ad is too long.