Scientist blames exposure to sewage and indiscriminate sand mining

They are tiny creatures that live in water, in aquifers deep in the ground, in the porous spaces of sediment along waterways and in small pools in the dark crevasses of caves undisturbed by external forces for million of years. They all belong to the quite hardy crustacean group. Some of them are extremophiles that can live in the most adverse conditions with no light and very little oxygen.

But human activity seems to have got to them, and many of them have become endangered even before they have been discovered.

One hyporheic (porous spaces or sediments along water ways) crustacean Harbobathynella indica discovered on the banks of Krishna river near Vijayawada city by Acharya Nagarjuna University professor Y. Ranga Reddy as recently as 2005 is suspected to be extinct. Sewage flows into the river at the ‘type location’ (the point the sample was first collected) and these creatures are very sensitive to it.

Bio Speleologist and expert on the Bathynellacea order of crustaceans Shabuddin Shaik told The Hindu that despite several efforts, no specimens of H. indica were found in recent times. Samples were collected 100 km downstream and upstream the type location, but the collection teams had no luck.

Mr. Shaik discovered a new species Indobathynella socrates, in a pool of water inside the Karaiakuda cave (8 km from the famous Borra Cave) and named it after his favourite philosopher. Mr Shaik who is Fellow of the Zoological Society of London having to his credit 40 new species is finding it difficult to find names to the new species he is finding.

As a taxonomist, he is afraid that some of the new species, particularly those that live in the Hyporheic zone, were threatened because of exposure to sewage and indiscriminate sand mining.

Quarrying, over exploitation of water resources, groundwater pollution, reduction in recharge of groundwater, visitors’ pressure, some religious and ritual practices, treasure hunt and cave vandalism are all threats to these ancient life forms studies of which could be the key to the study of evolution.

Several of them were extremophiles that might come in handy in creating drought resistant crops. Some of them could be used for research of life in outer space., Mr Shaik explained.

“These ecosystems are receiving little attention from conservation agencies. One explanation for the poor attention to India could be limited awareness about such cryptic ecosystems,” Mr Shaik said.