This Leech Can Survive A 24-Hour Submersion in Liquid Nitrogen

Tuesday, January 28, 2014 - 18:00 in Biology & Nature

A very special leech Ozobranchus jantseanus, a leech that parasitizes turtles in East Asia. Dai Suzuki et al / PLOS ONE At first glance there is nothing overly special about Ozobranchus jantseanus, a small parasitic leech of freshwater turtles in East Asia. But throw them into a vat of liquid nitrogen, and they can survive for 24 hours. This is most unusual, to say the least--most creatures cannot survive for very long below water's freezing point of 32°F (0°C), let alone temperatures of -321°F (-196°C), because when water becomes ice it crystallizes and usually ruptures cells. Only two other known species can survive being immersed in liquid nitrogen--water bears and the larvae of one type of drosophilid fly--but previously the maximum recorded length of submersion was 1 hour.  But that's only the beginning of this species'...

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