Upstream | November 18, 2009 | 59 comments

Jupiter's Moon Europa Might Be Teeming With Fish

source: http://io9.com/5407716/scientists-say-jupiters-moon-europa-might-be-teeming-with-fish

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New evidence has come to light that the vast, ice-encrusted oceans of Europa may be harboring Earth-like life that lives on the oxygen-rich waters. Time to plan your extraterrestrial fishing trip? Maybe.

Apparently, the oceans of Europa are fed with more than 100 times more oxygen than previous models suggested. According to National Geographic:

That amount of oxygen would be enough to support more than just microscopic life-forms: At least three million tons of fishlike creatures could theoretically live and breathe on Europa, said study author Richard Greenberg of the University of Arizona in Tucson.

"There's nothing saying there is life there now," said Greenberg, who presented his work last month at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences. "But we do know there are the physical conditions to support it."

In fact, based on what we know about the Jovian moon, parts of Europa's seafloor should greatly resemble the environments around Earth's deep-ocean hydrothermal vents, said deep-sea molecular ecologist Timothy Shank.

"I'd be shocked if no life existed on Europa," said Shank, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

So how does the oxygen get into the water? It's created when charged particles from Jupiter's magnetic field hit the ice. Because the icy surface of the moon is constantly shifting and cracking due to tides created by both the Sun and Jupiter's gravitational fields, the oxygenated ice would crumble down into the oceans. Eventually, this would result in oxygen-rich waters like those in our own oceans. And these could possibly support Earth-ish life.

As of yet, no space probes from Earth have penetrated Europa's ice crust to examine the seas below, but NASA has proposed another mission to place a satellite in orbit around the moon. (No, they would not be crashing the satellite into the moon itself.)



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59 comments // Jupiter's Moon Europa Might Be Teeming With Fish

  • Progresshiv
  • zacmalinowski
  • dsidney
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • Made in 1968, "2001, A Space Oyssey"
      from the movie:
      HAL begins repeatedly broadcasting the message "ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE."

      Hmmmm.......

    • 2 years ago
  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  
    • csmonut:

      @csmonut, indeed 2010, that statement always intrigued me making me wonder what could possibly exist on Europa that a highly advanced civilization, capable of transforming Jupiter into another sun, would want us to stay away from.

      I speculated as a kid, after seeing that move like 10 times, was that our evolution was managed over a very long extended period of time, perhaps even 100's of thousands of years or even millions. The depictions of the hominids discovering the black odalisque was so compelling to the hominids, obviously influencing them to think literally outside the box of their tribal customs to imagine other shapes and eventually other technologies based on those shapes.

      The wheel becomes the giant wheel in space, creating artificial gravity through centrifugal force.

      The depictions of weightlessness were priceless even by today's cinematic standards of special effects.

      I also often wondered if Clarke had been contacted by aliens at some time in his life to have conceived of such an astonishing tale.

    • 2 years ago
  • Rickharmon25
  • Rickharmon25
  • norml37
  • carmalite
  • Nephwrack
    • 0
      Nephwrack  

    • i don't find it at all surprising that most people want to eat these things...of those who have commented, anyway. but having said that, what if they were safe and made really good sushi??

      LOLZ at jesuswho

    • 2 years ago
  • jesuswho
  • tommic
    • 0
      tommic  

    • If there are hydrothermal vents on europa's frozen sea floor chances are amino acids are present which are the building blocks of primordial life. This will be interesting if I live long enough to see the first spacecraft get there and check it out.

    • 2 years ago
  • jaystyx
  • Mikeysfake1
  • 02
    • 0
      02  

    • Would two segments of their DNA-like structures, left haphazardly in a syringe on the way back, - destroy all life on Earth? Third green-slime mud-ball from the Sun?

    • 2 years ago
  • CalPal
    • 0
      CalPal  
    • 02:

      Well, think about it this way:

      They don't have any natural enemies back on earth, and they could easily adapt to our environment incredibly quickly, considering Europa's cold as hell.

      I would argue yes, any organic being on Europa brought back to earth could, within a month or so, replace all life on Earth.

      (Funny thing: almost got Europa and Europe confused with each other! :S)

    • 2 years ago
  • 02
  • CalPal
    • 0
      CalPal  

    • I'm surprised everyone is thinking about eating these fishies, even though 1) we haven't even proved advanced life exists beyond earth, 2) if there was advanced life on Europa, imagine all the bacteria there that, if brought back to Earth "accidentally", would simply wipe everything out within a month, 3) if there is advanced fish life, what's not to say that this fish life would eat us when we land there, or 4), we repeat history and have our bacteria on us wipe out their species.

      In my honest opinion, we shouldn't interact with the "fish" anymore than just to understand them and confirm theories of life, including whether all life uses DNA and other such stuff...

    • 2 years ago
  • 02
    • 0
      02  
    • CalPal:

      There may be DNA like processes or perhaps entirely foreign processes.
      Our planet has, perhaps billions of life-forms, all happily eating each other and infecting each other and in an odd mis-balance. We, stupid people, have talked about what diseases we have - which are only those things, against which that we have shinned our ankles.
      Mind should be paid to all those things that do not effect us and we remain entirely ignorant of. There are likely viruses that transfer genetic material we know nothing of.
      And of course this is just our thin slice of time - could the immune systems of creatures from the environments of the past or future even survive the ever evolving biologic landscape?

      Our whole world, the carbon eaters, the oxygen eaters, our life-created blue sky - Life created the planet we have.

      Your post has hit it directly, we should not be raining biological evil on another planet, even sans life - nor especially so any more than we would welcome ruination from elsewhere.

      While they may not be, these should be considered closed systems. At least from a conservation point of view.

      Mars may be the result of things gone bad, right there next door.

    • 2 years ago
  • LozRiva
  • remanns
  • CarolynGillis
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  

    • well I don't know that I would go to outer space to catch fish when I can just go to the bay. Be sides who is going to clean them or better yet whats going to stop them from eating you?

    • 2 years ago
  • Mr_Ben
  • LozRiva
  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  

    • I wouldn't be shocked if they find nothing. They've found nothing on Mars and the Moon when they found water in both places. Nothing....of course - yet. But still not shocking. Interesting find is as far as one can go with this. They get all excited and spend millions to find nothing but what they already knew.

    • 2 years ago
  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  
    • J_Jammer:

      Do you honestly believe that there is nothing "classified" in these missions to the Moon, Mars, etc.? Do you honestly believe that the government or NASA are not keeping secrets?

    • 2 years ago
  • CarlosIsDown
  • CarlosIsDown
  • bailey78
  • Lurkistan
    • 0
      Lurkistan  

    • NASA we should send rovers there next, no other planet that I know of outside of Earth has oceans of water, we need to get a closer look at this place!

    • 2 years ago
  • urbanwolf
  • Lurkistan
  • sidewaysclyde
  • BerthaAngela
  • UWAZell
  • Ajil
    • 0
      Ajil  

    • it wood be amazing if life on another planet's moon was something as simple as fish. No matter the complexity, any life off of this planet would cause strife in organized religions and old comprehensions of reality. Humans should not be feeding off the fish of Europa, just like we dont own this planet and shouldnt be consuming all the resources available and occupying all territory which harms the ecosystems. With the location of possible life being so close, we should be investigating with urgency.

    • 2 years ago
  • carmalite
  • LowShred
  • hell0everything
  • idealist
  • jubal
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  
    • jubal:

      I goofed...that was 2010.
      2001 was the first theater movie I remember going to and it made one helluva an impression. I red the book many years later and it explained what the hominids were seeing, and what the monolith did to their way of life.
      Now, hearing that Europa may contain fish, (life) in it's waters, brought back the idea that perhaps Clarke knew something we don't.
      Amazing....

    • 2 years ago
  • andeeandee
  • 24French
  • slarabee
  • JulianCommongold
  • ColossalView
    • 0
      ColossalView  

    • every time I hear or read a development on Europa, I try to sit back for a second and breath this in because it's just an amazing thing to hear about possible lifeforms on another world.

    • 2 years ago
  • StrangE2U
  • JanforGore
  • Lurkistan
  • revolutioninamerica
  • TheDesertEagle
  • erikjames
  • JulianCommongold
  • Niccole_Osborn
    • 0
      Niccole_Osborn  

    • I've always found Europa interesting. NASA really should push for getting something out there for evidence of this. It would be a huge discovery.

    • 2 years ago
  • Maitereya
  • LozRiva
  • Nephwrack
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