On this photograph supplied by Schmidt Ocean Institute, an eelpout swims by a tower of tubeworms on the Tica Vent, a website on the East Pacific Rise 2,500 meters deep. (Schmidt Ocean Institute through AP)
NEW YORK — Scientists for the primary time have uncovered an underworld of animal life thriving beneath the seafloor.
An expedition to a volcanically lively ridge within the Pacific off South America has revealed worms, snails, large tubeworms and different unknown creatures lurking beneath steamy underwater sizzling springs.
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Researchers have lengthy studied animal communities close to such hydrothermal vents. Many thought solely microbes and viruses might survive beneath. To their shock, an underwater robotic final summer time overturned volcanic slabs and located numerous life beneath the vents.
“This was completely surprising,” stated examine co-author Sabine Gollner with the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Analysis.
Younger critters from above the seafloor may very well be touring by way of the vents to settle within the depths, Gollner stated.
The analysis revealed Tuesday within the journal Nature Communications.
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Future research will assist reveal whether or not colonies of animal life exist beneath different hydrothermal vents across the globe.
“That is an preliminary discovery that’s actually promising,” stated Jason Sylvan, a microbiologist at Texas A&M College who was not concerned with the analysis.
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