Mini-subs discover unique amphipods in Baikal

MOSCOW, June 20 (RIA Novosti) - Unusual shrimp-like creatures, amphipods, were discovered during a dive into East Siberia's Lake Baikal, a member of the expedition told RIA Novosti on Saturday.

Amphipods traditionally have long antennae on the head. However, the species found on the bottom of the world's deepest lake on Friday, with bodies of up to 8-cm long, lacked such antennae.

"Amphipods clear the lake of dead organic matter," the source said.

During another dive near Cape Polovinny earlier on Friday the expedition failed to find the remains of a train known to have sunk in the lake during the 1917-1923 Russian Civil War over low transparency of the water.

The main focus of the ongoing expedition involving the Mir-1 and Mir-2 submersibles, which resumed on Monday following last summer's 52 dives, is on scientific research rather than artifact hunting.

However, no deep tectonic faults, strong hydrothermal springs or methane hydrates were spotted in the area of a 2008 quake with the epicenter near Lake Baikal that measured over 7 on the Richter scale.

Lake Baikal has a coastline of over 2,000 km and a maximum depth of 1,637 meters. The UNESCO world heritage site contains 83% of Russia's and 20% of the world's unfrozen freshwater.