Joseph Dituri, a professor from the University of South Florida, who has been living in an underwater habitat in a Florida lagoon for almost a month now, claims to have discovered a potentially new species. Dituri, also known as “Dr. Deep Sea” on social media, is conducting a groundbreaking experiment to test how the body reacts to long-term exposure to extreme pressure, and to break a world record for living underwater for 100 days.
However, a month into the experiment, Dituri’s team has made an unexpected discovery. “We found a single-cell ciliate, a single-celled organism that we believe is a brand new species to science,” Dituri claimed. The discovery has been described as a significant scientific finding since the specimen is one of the many discoveries Dituri is hoping to make during his extended stay beneath the waves.
The new species has yet to be confirmed, and microbiologists will examine it in detail to determine whether it is indeed a new discovery. Dituri and his team hope to discover more about the biodiversity of the ocean and the effects of living underwater for an extended period. Their findings could potentially shed new light on how humans can adapt to life in extreme conditions.
