A quiet discovery in the Great Salt Lake that no one saw coming

A quiet discovery in the Great Salt Lake that no one saw coming

For years, the Great Salt Lake in Utah has been described as simple when it comes to animal life. Ask most people, even researchers, and they would point to brine shrimp and brine flies as the lake’s only true animal residents. The water is extremely salty, far more than the ocean, and that alone seemed enough to rule out anything more complex. That belief has now changed.

While studying microbial structures along the lakebed, researchers noticed something unusual under the microscope. Among the layers of bacteria and minerals was a tiny worm moving on its own. Further testing confirmed it was not just unusual but completely new to science. The organism turned out to be a previously undocumented roundworm, a type of nematode that had never been recorded in the Great Salt Lake before.

The find surprised even experienced biologists. Nematodes are common across the planet, but surviving in water this salty is no small feat. The Great Salt Lake has no outlet, which means salts and minerals build up over time. Conditions like these usually shut the door on most animal life. Yet this worm had adapted quietly, living among microbial formations that have existed for thousands of years.

Naming the species was handled with care. Scientists worked with members of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation to choose a name connected to the region. The word “woaabi,” meaning worm in the Shoshone language, was selected. For the research team, it was a way to acknowledge both the land’s history and the people tied to it long before modern science arrived.

Beyond the excitement of discovering something new, the find raises bigger questions. How many other small organisms are living unnoticed in extreme places? What role does this worm play in the lake’s ecosystem? Researchers suspect it may help break down organic material or support microbial life, but more work is needed to understand its function.

The timing of the discovery also matters. The Great Salt Lake has been shrinking in recent years due to drought and water use. As shorelines retreat, habitats disappear. Finding a new species now is a reminder that losses may be happening faster than we realise, sometimes before we even know what exists.

This was not a dramatic expedition or a deep-sea dive. It was a close look at a place people thought they already understood. And in that quiet moment, the lake revealed it still has secrets left to share.