When you think of extreme and inhospitable environments, space might be the first thing to come to mind.

The truth is, though, that Earth’s oceans are home to more than a few environments like this as well.

One of the most extreme are the Red Sea brine pools, which exist in the Gulf of Aqaba in the area of the Red Sea between the Arabian and Sinai peninsulas. There were only discovered in 2020, when marine geoscientist Sam Purkis and his team stumbled across them during a research mission.

He says in a statement that they could just as easily still be an unknown.

“We were very lucky. The discovery came in the last five minutes of the ten-hour ROV dive that we could dedicate to this project.”

What they discovered seemed impossible in such a hostile environment. 5,807 feet below the surface, in water that is incredibly salty and devoid of oxygen, they found an abundance of life.

Purkis told Live Science they were completely surprised.

“At this great depth, there is ordinarily not much life on the seabed. However, the brine pools are a rich oasis of life. Thick carpets of microbes support a diverse suite of animals.”

They spotted eels, flatfish, and houndsharks, among others.

“These predators appeared to deliberately cruise on the brine surface, waiting to snack on the creatures that are momentarily stunned after ending up accidentally in the anoxic waters.”

The researchers believe the pools could also tells them much about metereological and geological history in the region – they could hold a millennials worth of secrets in the sedimentary rock.

“Analysis of sedimentary rock samples extracted from the pools revealed an unbroken record of past rainfall in the region, stretching back more than 1,000 years, plus records of earthquakes and tsunami.”

Not only that, but Purkis and others believe that finding life in environments that were previously believed inhospitable could help us better understand how to launch ourselves int o space, too.

“Our discovery of a rich community of microbes that survive in extreme environments can help trace the limits of life on Earth and can be applied to the search for life elsewhere in our solar system and beyond.”

Not a bad trick for a bunch of marine life hanging out in some salty tidepools.

I guess life really does find a way.

Thought that was fascinating? Here’s another story you might like: Why You’ll Never See A Great White Shark In An Aquarium