In a World Where Humans Can't Survive, an Alien Species Thrives

 In 2005 we found water on Enceladus, a moon orbiting Saturn 91,000 miles from Earth. NASA's Cassini spacecraft first detected vapor coming from the moon's South Pole as it passed by to study Saturn. On further flybys, the probe took pictures of the plumes. Analyzing the vapor's composition and imaging the moon's gravitational field, scientists made the exciting discovery that beneath Enceladus's icy crust was a massive ocean six miles deep.

It was an exciting find because where there is water there can be life. The oceans of Enceladus could be home to the first extraterrestrial life found. But it wouldn't be life as we know it. The environment in those alien waters is extreme beyond anything we could survive.

Geothermal activity from Enceladus's core keeps the water over 200 degrees Fahrenheit in places. But that's not the true danger. At six miles deep, the water pressure would kill you. It's over a thousand times the air pressure on Earth's surface. Any part of your body with air inside would be crushed first - lungs, ear canal, sinus passageways - followed by the rest of you. No creature on Earth could survive there.

Except we just found a new species that could.

In 2023, researchers working the Atacama Trench Deep-Ocean Observing System were delivering sensors to the depths of the Atacama Trench, just off the coast of Chile. The trench is a marvel - if it were on land it would be one of the natural wonders of the world, 13 times longer than the Grand Canyon and five times deeper. To get their equipment to the bottom, researchers have to send a platform straight down  _for five miles_ before finally hitting bottom.

At that depth, the water pressure is 8,250 pounds per square inch. Not only would humans be crushed, but so would cars. The metal frame and glass and tires would collapse inward from the extreme force acting on every square inch of the vehicle. 

Yet on this particular day, researchers discovered a creature that thrives down there. After successfully placing two deep-sea oceanographic moorings with multiple sensors 8,000 feet down on the trench floor, they raised the delivery platform to find a surprising specimen on board -- something living in an environment humans deem uninhabitable.

It was a new species of animal never before seen on Earth.

They named it Camanchaca, the indigenous South American word for darkness, signifying the pitch-black depths the creature prowls. It is a fast swimming amphipod - a crustacean - with a ghost-white body four centimeters long. It has  fourteen legs -- eight used for moving fast, and six more for swimming and breathing. Particularly striking are its front raptorial legs, which are adapted for capturing prey.

Now, researchers have found living microbes at these depths before. They've even found other amphipods that feed on floating organic matter. But Camanchaca is different. It is the first predator found at these depths. It feeds on other crustaceans -- and anything else it can trap in its weaponized front legs. Scientifically, it is not just a new species of animal. Based on its DNA, it represents an entirely new category, originating from a mysterious genus higher in the evolutionary tree.

Camanchaca is not suited for Earth's climate. But it thrives in the brutal world of the Atacama Trench. Just as it would in the deep oceans of Saturn's moon, Enceladus.

Aliens may come here in saucer shaped craft. But there's another theory, known as directed panspermia, that microbial life was intentionally sent across space to seed life. Once here, the creature would seek out an environment extreme enough for their comfort -- one that might remind them of their home moon, 91,000 miles away.