A team of researchers has made this discovery that demonstrates the existence of a more complex hydrothermal ecosystem than previously known, deep in the ocean surrounded by perpetual darkness where enormous pressure and extreme cold create inhospitable conditions for humans.
“We were surprised because we didn’t know there were cavities there,” marine biologist Monika Bright, from the University of Vienna, told ScienceAlert. Geologists had described these cavities before, but they had never seen animals, and we biologists did not know the cavities existed. “But once we tried collecting rocks to look for tubeworm larvae on the surface, we explored the cavities and discovered the animals.”
These cavities are located at a depth of 2,515 meters below the ocean surface, in the hydrothermal vent field in the East Pacific Ridge, an area difficult to reach.
However, this volcanically active area contains holes through which heat and minerals escape, providing a chemical foundation on which marine food webs are built.
Advances in remote control technology have made it possible to send equipment to great depths. Bright and her colleagues conducted this mission aboard the research vessel Valkor, where they used the SuB-astian remote-controlled rover to study life clustered around vents in the eastern Pacific highlands, conducting surveys and collecting samples.
At least 10 species of organisms have been documented inside the cavities, including polychaete worms, marine snails and the giant tubeworm Riftia pachyptila.
Some of the same species have also been found on the surface and in lava fissures, suggesting a connection between the seafloor and the cavities beneath it.
So far, it is not known how common or extensive these cavities are, but researchers stress that the discovery indicates the need for more efforts to understand and protect animals from human activities, such as deep-sea mining.
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
Source: ScienceAlert
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