Cave critters linked to quality of water
Research into isopods may help protect water resources in the Valley
Wednesday, Oct 15, 2008
By CARLOS SANTOS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
GROTTOES The Madison Cave isopod, a rare, blind, pigment-less cave dweller, must be the weirdest-looking sentinel of water quality in the country.
Found only on 12 sites in certain parts of the Shenandoah Valley and a splinter of West Virginia, the free-swimming crustacean is fully adapted to a light-free life underground and underwater. Scientists are now trying to determine how many there are and where else it may live.
The answers may help protect water resources of the Shenandoah Valley.
Read on, and watch the slide show. (Yea NSS members Will and John.! )
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx. ... -0095.html