Imagine a cave labyrinth isolated from the outside world, where spiders, scorpions, worms and other bizarre creatures crawl. This unique natural phenomenon resembles, rather, the underworld of Jules Verne ("Journey to the Center of the Earth") than a real place. Movile Cave in Romania, discovered in 1986, is one of the most isolated places on Earth, which turned out to be a fruitful location for research by scientists. They believe that the study of this unusual cave can provide answers to many questions, including the appearance of life on Earth.
The Lost World of Mutants
In 1986, during construction work, the Movile Cave was accidentally discovered, which is located off the western coast of the Black Sea. Later, a whole secret kingdom of strange living creatures was revealed, which were obviously cut off from the outside world for many generations. Among them are spiders, leeches, millipedes, bugs, flatworms, ticks, and also such aquatic inhabitants as water scorpions and nematode worms.
Movile Cave is a closed ecosystem, the uniqueness of which is that almost all living organisms are independent of the energy of sunlight. Therefore, there is no photosynthetic vegetation. Unusual creatures are energized by the metabolism of hydrogen sulfide, carried out by dense layers of bacteria that live on the walls of the cave. These bacteria produce sulfuric acid, with the help of which the internal volumes of the cave itself increase due to the burning out of space in limestone rocks.
Features of the cave ecosystem
Air seeps into the cave through tiny cracks, but the atmosphere is very different from the outside: there is 100 times more carbon dioxide than on the surface and 10 times less oxygen; there is also an increased content of hydrogen sulfide produced by natural sulfur sources. Ordinary animals instantly react to the slightest changes in the level of oxygen and try to quickly leave the place where foreign impurities are found in the air.
Movile Cave (Romania) is characterized by rather difficult conditions for survival, therefore organisms that are able to carry out their activities in such extreme conditions have a number of remarkable characteristics. For example, a pale yellow appearance, since a distinctive feature of all cave creatures is the absence of coloring pigment. All are born blind, with the exception of spiders, which have eight eyes, like their terrestrial relatives. However, over time, their vision is lost as unnecessary. A large antennae help them navigate in the dark.
Mutants from the cave do not need eyes
Eyes are complex structures that are prone to illness and injury. If a living creature somehow fell into extreme cave conditions, complete darkness, then this can lead to damage to the surface of the eyes, purulent infections that provoke the death of the animal. An acidic environment also has detrimental effects on eye health.
The history of many thousands of Romanian caves has provided numerous generations of its inhabitants with enough time for maximum adaptation to the new environment. This adaptation is based on the originally laid down genetic information, as well as adaptive losses and defects in the process of gradual mutations.
Geographical and environmental features
Movile Cave (Romania) is located near the city of Mangalia, in the southeastern part of the country, just a few kilometers from the Black Sea. The entrance is a shaft 18 meters deep. The total length of this relatively small cave with narrow passages covered with clay is about 300 meters. At the bottom is a small lake.
When the Earth’s climate changed 5.5 million years ago, going from tropical to more moderate, the only animals that managed to survive were those who stayed in deep warm caves underground. Movile Cave is one of the most unusual ecosystems on Earth, being inhabited by different species of invertebrate animals that have adapted to the harsh conditions of their underground prison. 46 species of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates are more or less studied, 31 of which have never been seen before.
Movile Cave (Romania): photos of invertebrates
The vast majority of cave dwellers belong to the class of arachnids, crustaceans and insects. Eighteen species of aquatic organisms include flat, round (nematodes, rotifers), annelids, as well as blind leeches, snails and carnivorous water scorpions. In the cave also live nails, centipedes.
Movile Cave in southern Romania is a completely unique environment. Despite the almost complete tightness and lack of sunlight, the cave is a thriving ecosystem filled with a wide variety of life forms, from tiny crustaceans to isopods, mollusks and arachnids. On the rest of the planet, ecosystems are supported by primary producers capable of photosynthesis, such as plants or algae, which can be eaten by higher organisms in the food chain.
In the dark corners of the Movile cave, the primary producers are bacteria that convert carbon dioxide into living matter floating on the surface of cave waters. Primary production in the dark is set in motion due to the chemical energy obtained by bacteria due to the oxidation of sulfur compounds and ammonia in water. This process is called chemosynthesis.
An unusual underground ecosystem has been isolated from the outside world for several million years. This hidden corner of the underground life is completely independent of the outside world. Cave air is filled with harmful gases, but many outlandish animals live in it. Methane and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria are the main primary producers supporting a complex food network, which includes various types of bacteria, fungi, adapted for life in the complete darkness of invertebrates. These and other mysterious creatures, unknown to humanity, have long become a source of inspiration for naturalists, scientists, writers and filmmakers.