Eyeless Creature Discovered in Undersea Lava Tube

[Cheryl Jones]

Eyeless Creature Discovered in Undersea Tunnel
By Jeanna Bryner, Senior Writer
posted: 25 August 2009 10:00 am ET

A previously unknown species of an eyeless crustacean was discovered lurking inside a lava tube beneath the seafloor.

The creature, named Speleonectes atlantida, lives in the Tunnel de la Atlantida, the world's longest submarine lava tube on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands off the western coast of northern Africa. The discovery, which has implications for the evolution of an ancient group of crustaceans, will be detailed in September in a special issue of the journal Marine Biodiversity.

While in the cave, the international team of scientists and cave divers also discovered two previously unknown species of annelid worms.

Read on!
http://www.livescience.com/animals/0908 ... ecies.html