{"id":104790,"date":"2026-05-24T14:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T09:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=104790"},"modified":"2026-05-28T16:38:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:08:03","slug":"actinarctus-odissi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/actinarctus-odissi\/","title":{"rendered":"Actinarctus odissi"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Actinarctus odissi Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientists recently discovered a new species of tardigrade, fondly known as the marine water bear, named Actinarctus odissi, off the northeast coast of India.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Actinarctus odissi<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a new species of <\/span><b>tardigrade<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>microscopic<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> creature was discovered in the<\/span><b> shallow marine waters <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of the <\/span><b>Bay of Bengal,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> near the coastal region of Markandi in <\/span><b>Odisha<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The name \u2018\u2019<\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/odissi-dance\/\" target=\"_blank\">odissi<\/a>\u2019\u2019 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was chosen to honour the famous <\/span><b>traditional classical dance <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">form <\/span><b>originating from<\/b> <b>Odisha<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This marks the first time in 43 years that a new member of its elusive genus has been found.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Features<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It boasts a <\/span><b>dome-shaped body surrounded by transparent, wing-like flaps called alae,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which are supported by translucent pillars.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While other species in this genus feature long wings and elaborate internal supports, this new water bear has <\/span><b>noticeably shorter lateral wings.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its <\/span><b>back legs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> possess <\/span><b>simple, un-split sensory organs <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that are much shorter than those of its cousins.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also features blunt-tipped sensory appendages, rather than sharp ones, and its back is uniquely heavily sculptured with tiny, trombone-shaped pillars.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>What are Tardigrades?<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tardigrades, also called \u2018\u2019<\/span><b>water bears\u2019\u2019 or \u2018\u2019moss-piglets\u2019\u2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, are <\/span><b>tiny microscopic animals.\u00a0 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientists have identified about 1,300 tardigrade species.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tardigrades can be found in almost <\/span><b>every habitat<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Earth.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Most species<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> live in <\/span><b>freshwater or semiaquatic terrestrial environments.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Marine tardigrades <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">account for <\/span><b>17% <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of all known tardigrade species.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are <\/span><b>short <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(0.05 mm &#8211; 1.2 mm in body length), <\/span><b>plump<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>bilaterally symmetrical, segmented organisms.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They have<\/span><b> four pairs of legs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, each of which<\/span><b> ends in four to eight claws.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They feed on the fluids of plant cells, animal cells, and bacteria.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are famous for their extraordinary ability to <\/span><b>survive extreme environmental conditions.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They can survive punishing heat, freezing cold, ultraviolet radiation, and <\/span><b>even outer space.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Under unfavourable conditions,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> they go into a <\/span><b>state of suspended animation <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">called the <\/span><b>\u201ctun\u201d state<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014in which the <\/span><b>body dries out<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>appears as a lifeless ball <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(or tun).\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this state their <\/span><b>metabolism may decline<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to as little as 0.01 percent of its normal rate.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tardigrades can <\/span><b>survive as tuns for years, or even decades<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, to wait out dry conditions.\u00a0 <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/researchmatters.in\/news\/new-tardigrade-species-found-bay-bengal-first-one-discovered-over-four-decades\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RM<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Actinarctus odissi, a new tardigrade species discovered in Odisha\u2019s Bay of Bengal waters, marks the first finding of its genus in 43 years. Read more about Actinarctus odissi, Features, Latest News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":105015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7705,21,22,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-104790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-actinarctus-odissi","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104790"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105609,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104790\/revisions\/105609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}