WHAT IS ANHYDROBIOSIS? Anhydrobiosis ("life without water"), also called cryptoviosis ("hidden life") is an adaptaion of certain animals to lose almost all thier body water and survive in a dormant state when thier habitat dries up.Example :tardigrades (water bears), tiny (under 0.5mm long) invertibrates that live in water films surrounding leaves of terrestial mosses or sand grains, can survive in an inactive form for ma decade or more.