A life form that scientists believe was previously unknown has been discovered on a ship moored in Cleveland last summer. The discovery was made after the research vessel Blue Heron, which was monitoring harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, began experiencing mechanical problems.
Captain Rual Lee directed the vessel to Cleveland to be inspected in dry dock at Great Lakes Shipyard on the Old River Canal of the Cuyahoga River in northeast Ohio. After the Blue Heron was lifted out of the water and lowered to a parking lot, the problem was diagnosed. The propeller shaft bearings needed to be replaced. But just as one mystery was solved, another, even deeper one appeared.
Lee noticed that a tar-like substance was oozing from the steering shaft, a normally hidden component of the ship's steering mechanism that had been exposed during maintenance. He had never seen anything like this during previous dry dock inspections of the vessel. This former fishing vessel had been acquired by the University of Minnesota Duluth for research.
Out of curiosity, Lee took a piece of this substance and threw it into the water to see if it would leave a sheen. But it didn't. He then held a blowtorch to the slimy substance to see if it would light up. But that didn't happen either. Puzzled, he asked experts at the University of Minnesota Duluth to investigate.
"We work in a science lab," he said. "We have people who do this kind of stuff." That's when Doug Ricketts, superintendent of marine transportation on the Blue Heron, stepped in.
On one trip to Cleveland to check on the progress of renovations, he put a half cup of mucus in a sample bag and took it to Duluth. Here in town, he gave it to Cody Shake, a university associate professor and expert in microbial ecology. Shake was immediately interested.
Photo: cleveland.com
The slime resembled what his former graduate school colleagues at the University of Oklahoma extracted from oil tanks for organism research. As for the substance found on the Blue Heron, he thought, "Maybe there's something alive in there."
To get more information, Shake used chemicals to dissect mucus cells and study their microscopic structure. In doing so, he discovered about 20 DNA sequences, or genomes, and checked them against a worldwide computer database.
Most of the sequences matched known genomes found in other parts of the world, he said, but some were less identifiable, including one that was completely new. It is now known, at least temporarily, as "ShipGoo001."
"ShipGoo001" is believed by scientists to be a single-celled organism, but its appearance is not yet clear, it could be filamentous, spherical or even sinuous, and in a broader context, the discovery of the slime demonstrates how life can exist in unique places, including the artificial environments of buildings or ships.
"We should probably be a little more open to random sampling," Shake says. Trying to decipher a previously unknown life form is an exciting and specific aspect of his work, Shake says, and an opportunity to "show people that science can be interesting and not so boring."
Shake at first thought the substance was old grease until he learned that the steering shaft from which it was oozing was lubricated only by lake water. Perhaps "ShipGoo001" is composed of carbon and comes from substances floating in water. Bottom line: the scientist doesn't know exactly what he's dealing with. But he seems to have stumbled upon a new kind of organism that deserves a closer look.
Lee is puzzled, too, but is comforted by preliminary findings that the slime is not a threat to the environment or his ship. It's not some boat-eating substance like the one that ate away steel pilings in Duluth harbor a few years ago, he said.
"We are all very curious and we are quite curious about what it is," says Lee. "Maybe one day we can get an exact answer."