New marine tardigrade species named after former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

CUSAT researchers discover new species of marine tardigrade, Batillipes kalami, in Mandapam, Tamil Nadu. Named after late President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, it is the second marine tardigrade species from India and the first from the east coast. It is the 37th species of the genus Batillipes and is 0.17mm in length and 0.05mm in width. Studies of marine tardigrades from Indian waters are limited, making detailed studies along the Indian coast necessary.

Researchers at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) have identified a new species of marine tardigrade which they have named after the late former President and scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Tardigrades are extremely tiny animals whose size is measured in micrometres. Their microscopic size, however, belies their toughness. They are known for their extraordinary resilience and survival instincts. Studied using microscopes, these water-dwelling animals also go by the rather unlikely moniker ‘water bears.’

The new species, discovered from Mandapam in south-east Tamil Nadu, belongs to the genus Batillipes and has been named Batillipes kalami. A paper on the discovery by Vishnudattan N.K. (research scholar) and S. Bijoy Nandan (Professor) of the Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, Cusat, and Marcus Rubal, Centre of Molecular and Environmental Biology, University of Minho, Portugal, has appeared in the latest issue of Zootaxa.

There are a number of aspects that make the discovery important from a scientific perspective: Batillipes kalami is the second marine tardigrade to be discovered from Indian waters and the first one from the east coast. It is also the first taxonomically described species belonging to the genus Batillipes from India, said Dr. Nandan.

In 2021, Mr. Vishnudattan and Dr. Nandan discovered the first marine tardigrade species from India at Vadakara in Kerala. They had named it Stygarctus keralensis.

Size-wise, Batillipes kalami averages 170 micrometres (0.17 mm) in length and around 50 micrometres (0.05 mm) in width. It has a trapezoid-shaped head with sharp-tipped filament-like appendages (cirri) extending from it. All four pairs of legs possess sensory spines of varying length.

“The females are slightly bigger compared to the males,” Mr. Vishnudattan said. The marine species are smaller than their terrestrial counterparts and also tougher to identify.