No oxygen? No worries for H. salminicola. Stephen D. Atkinson

Researchers on Monday said they accidentally found the first animal species out of millions of know species that can survive its entirely without the presence of oxygen.

Henneguya salminicola (H. salminicola) normally lives in the muscle tissue of its salmon host. The 10-celled creature has evolved to the point where it doesn’t breathe at all, according to a study published in the National Academy of Sciences.

“Aerobic respiration was thought to be ubiquitous in animals, but now we confirmed that this is not the case,” said Dorothée Huchon, a zoologist at Israel’s Tel Aviv University in a press release. “Our discovery shows that evolution can go in strange directions. Aerobic respiration is a major source of MORE