''Spinoloricus cinziae'' is an animal species described in 2014 in the phylum

Loricifera Loricifera (from Latin, '' lorica'', corselet (armour) + ''ferre'', to bear) is a phylum of very small to microscopic marine cycloneuralian sediment-dwelling animals that had been determined to be 37 described species, in 9 genera, bu ...

. It was the first described animal species that does not require oxygen at any point during its life.Jackson P. (8 April 2010). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8609246.stm "First oxygen-free animals found". ''BBC News''. accessed 16 April 2010.New species 'live without oxygen'
The Telegraph, April 9, 2010 The species, along with two other newly discovered species, '' Rugiloricus nov. sp.'' and ''

Pliciloricus ''Pliciloricus'' is a genus of marine organisms Pliciloricidae family, the phylum Loricifera described by Higgins & Kristensen, 1986.Higgins, Robert P.; Kristensen, Reinhardt M 1986: New Loricifera from southeastern United States coastal waters ...

nov. sp.'' (all of order Nanaloricida), were found in the sediment of the

anoxic The term anoxia means a total depletion in the level of oxygen, an extreme form of hypoxia or "low oxygen". The terms anoxia and hypoxia are used in various contexts: * Anoxic waters, sea water, fresh water or groundwater that are depleted of diss ...

L'Atalante basin L'Atalante basin is a hypersaline brine lake at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea about west of the island of Crete. It is named for the French ''L'Atalante'', one of the oceanographic research vessels involved in its discovery in 1993. L'Atala ...

of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

Electron microscope An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...

images show that the species' cellular innards appear to be adapted for a zero-oxygen life. Their mitochondria appear to act as

hydrogenosome A hydrogenosome is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in some anaerobic ciliates, flagellates, and fungi. Hydrogenosomes are highly variable organelles that have presumably evolved from protomitochondria to produce molecular hydrogen and ATP i ...

s, organelles which provide energy in some

anaerobic Anaerobic means "living, active, occurring, or existing in the absence of free oxygen", as opposed to aerobic which means "living, active, or occurring only in the presence of oxygen." Anaerobic may also refer to: * Anaerobic adhesive, a bonding a ...

single-celled creatures.Multicelled Animals May Live Oxygen-Free
U.S. News & World Report, April 12, 2010 At adulthood, this species is characterized by a mouth cone with eight oral ridges, a neck with eight single trichoscalids alternating with seven double trichoscalids, as well as lorical plates with spikes located at the corners. More than 30 species in this group have been described.

References

Loricifera Biota of the Mediterranean Sea Invertebrates of Europe Animals described in 2014 {{Protostome-stub