Mysterious 'alien slime' found deep in Australian cave Divers found group of organisms in the cave slimes known as the Thaumarchaeota This community of microbes thrives in the total dark, independent of photosynthesis Divers have found a bizarre alien 'slime' in water-filled underground caves beneath Australia's Nullarbor Plain. Researchers were stunned to find life in the deep cave. They reported unique "curtains" of biological material now known as Nullarbor cave slimes. A 'curtain' of slime found by Australian divers in water-filled underground caves beneath Nullarbor Plain The researchers say the organisms that make up the Weebubbie cave slime community survive in a very unusual way - by oxidizing ammonia in the salty cave water. They are completely independent of sunlight and ecosystems on the surface, the researchers say. Researchers Sasha Tetu, Katy Breakwell, Liam Elbourne, Andrew Holmes, Michael Gillings and Ian Paulsen from Macquarie University are exploring how this alien ecosystem works. They published their findings this week in the journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology, showing that an unusual combination of microbes thrive in the Weebubbie caves in the underground system. 'Earlier studies on the community suggested that there was an unusual chemistry going on in the caves, but we didn't know how the microbes were making a living in the cave environment,' says the lead scientist Professor Ian Paulsen of Macquarie University. In order to find this "missing link," the team of researchers made use of a range of new technologies, such as next-generation sequencing of environmental DNA and scanning electron microscopy to take an in-depth look at the composition of the Weebubbie cave slime community. They found a dominant group of organisms in the cave slimes, known as the Thaumarchaeota. This community of microbes thrives in the total dark, independent of photosynthesis. The alien cave slime under a microscope: The slime community survive by oxidizing ammonia in the salty water and are completely independent of sunlight and ecosystems on the surface Another of the alien slime communities found in the cave It is thought that the inundations of the Nullarbor caves by the sea occurred a number of times in the past and so researchers suggest that the Weebubbie Thaumarchaeota may have a marine origin. 'We know that the Nullarbor Plain's karst system arose from the sea in the Middle Miocene period and so this may be a clue as to where the Weebubbie Thaumarchaeota came from,' says Professor Paulsen. The research team says this analysis shows that the organisms that make up the Weebubbie cave slime community survive by oxidizing ammonia in the salty cave water - and are completely independent of sunlight and ecosystems on the surface. 'It just goes to show that life in the dark recesses of the planet comes in many strange forms, many of which are still unknown,' says Professor Paulsen. The entrance to the cave system under Australia's Nullarbor Plain The Nullabor Plain, in red, is well known for its underground cave system