Siberian scientists will make in September a report on previously unknown microbial colonies, found in Lake Baikal earlier this week, the Fund for the Protection of Lake Baikal said on Friday.
The finding is thought to be methane-consuming bacteria living in a previously unknown type of a colonial organism, but final conclusions are yet to be drawn. Scientists are now studying DNA samples they extracted from the bacteria.
Siberian scientist Mikhail Grachev, who heads the university which studies the bacteria, has earlier praised the finding as "the most important discovery" made by the Mir mini subs in the Baikal so far.
"We suspect it being a new, previously unknown form of life. It represents balls some 1-3 cm in diameter stuffed with defunct organic compounds. Most likely, these are previously unknown microbial colonies," he said.
The underwater expedition of Lake Baikal started in 2008. This summer, researchers searched for new species of flora and fauna, and dove down more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) to the deepest point of the lake, near Olkhon Island.
The mini-subs worked in the southern part of the lake, and in August 2009 the expedition moved to Baikal's north, where gas hydrates, crystalline solids, and large amounts of methane are trapped within a cage of water molecules, were found.
The total cost of the expedition is $8 million, with one dive worth 2 million rubles ($64,800).
IRKUTSK, August 13 (RIA Novosti)
