A Banff cave is "globally significant" for being home to a unique creature

A Banff cave is now listed as globally significant because it is the exclusive home to a one-of-its-kind creature.

Castleguard Cave has been given the designation of a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) because of the presence of a tiny amphipod.

It is now called the Castleguard Cave Amphiphod. It is described as tiny, largely transparent, and looks like a minuscule shrimp. And the only place you will find it is in the 21 km long Castleguard Cave System.

In a release from Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, they say scientists don’t know a lot about this tiny creature, but it has somehow “survived for millennia in this cold, nutrient-poor and frequently flooded environment,” and that makes the cave system worthy of KBA status. 

KBA Canada

They say the KBA designation is for the amphipod but also for what it tells us about life in an underground chamber that is believed to have remained intact and ice-free for more than 700,000 years.

Formed by meltwaters from the Columbia Icefield glaciers that lie above the cave, this subterranean habitat is giving researchers a window into life before the last ice age.

There are more than 70 sites now officially listed as KBAs across Canada and more than 850 more under consideration.

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The KBA program works with governments, local conservation organizations, citizen scientists, and Indigenous Nations to identify the places that are most important to conserve to avoid losing a species or ecosystem from Canada or the world.

In naming the Castleguard Cave system as a KBA, they hope they can help ensure that greater attention is paid to a unique underworld that may see more flooding from glacial meltwaters due to climate change or other changes.

The Castleguard Cave is in a restricted area 20 km from the nearest road and can only be explored in winter. It has numerous unique characteristics, from the tiny Castleguard Cave amphipod found nowhere else on earth to highly unusual, nearly cubical “cave pearls” found in a few other places in the world.