KOCHI: Researchers from the Department of Marine Biology, Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) have discovered a new species of marine tardigrade, colloquially known as water bears -- a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals.
This microscopic creature has been named as Batillipes chandrayaani, a homage to the Chandrayaan-3, the first-ever successful lunar south pole landing mission hosted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2023.
This newly described species was found in the intertidal beach sediments of Mandapam coast, Tamil Nadu.
The present species is similar in size to other tardigrades, measuring around 0.15 millimeters (mm) in length and 0.04 mm in width characterised by four pairs of legs.
This novel species was discovered by Vishnudattan N.K, research scholar and senior Prof Dr S Bijoy Nandan, Department of Marine Biology as a part of an extensive marine biodiversity survey conducted along the Tamil Nadu coast.
This is for the third time a marine tardigrade is described from the Indian waters and also the second time from the east coast. Earlier, the same research team had discovered a marine tardigrade from the south west coast (Stygarctus keralensis) in 2021 and south east coast (Batillipes kalami) in 2023.
“Few morphological variations among species and a limited number of differential characters make tardigrade taxonomy challenging and problematic” explains Dr Nandan, the team lead at CUSAT as well as the Vice Chancellor of Kannur University.
"Much like the space mission to unravel the secrets of the Moon, Batillipes chandrayaani represents the vast potential for scientific discovery that lies hidden within our oceans," said the researchers, in a statement here. Tardigrades, the microscopic water-dwelling animals, are well known for their extraordinary resilience and survival abilities in extreme environmental conditions.
They are one among the toughest animals on earth which have survived all the five mass extinctions, also the first known animal to survive after exposure to outer space.
Ecologically they act as a pioneer species by inhabiting new developing environments which will thereby attract other invertebrates to colonize that space.
The new species belong to the phylum Tardigrada, which comprises more than 1300 described species. Among them only 17 % are marine species. 'Batillipes chandrayaani' is the 39th species under the genus Batillipes.
The announcement of this discovery marks a significant milestone for marine biology research in India and reaffirms the country's commitment to scientific exploration and discovery.
It serves as a reminder of the immense biodiversity present in India's coastal waters and the importance of safeguarding these ecosystems for the benefit of both current and future generations.