A Denver researcher can add a pretty exciting achievement to his resume.
David Steinmann, a research associate for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, discovered a new worm species in a toxic, sulfur-ridden cave, according to CBS Denver. Steinmann told reporters he crawled through the deep and hostile "Sulphur Cave," located in Steamboat Springs, for a research project.
"My friends in my caving club found out about it," he says, adding that there's an extreme lack of oxygen inside the cave. "It’s about a foot-and-a-half wide. Then you crawl, and the cave is 200-feet long, as long as a bowling alley. Sometimes you’re stooping and standing, and it’s pitch dark of course. I go in there with special permission from the city."
It was during this dangerous dive that he came across swarms of "blood-red" worms.
"When I went in, I immediately saw large masses of blood-red worms on the floor and on rocks and in big globs … 100,000 worms," Steinmann recounted the experience. "We believe they’ve been evolving for tens of thousands of years if not longer."
These newfound worms are classified as "extremophiles," which are organisms that thrive in environments that aren't usually suitable for life. As for the case of these wiggle creatures, Steinmann says they were living their best life in the oxygen-deprived Sulphur Cave.
CBS Denver says some of the worms are being researched at the museum. Steinmann told the news station he's still starstruck by his discovery.
"To be able to go in a cave that’s relatively unvisited and pristine and find a new species in Colorado is interesting," the researcher says. "And it also allows us to see in our backyard that there’s new species to be discovered."