A submersible finds sea creatures thriving in the deepest parts of the ocean
NEW YORK — An underwater voyage has revealed a network of creatures thriving at the bottom of deep-sea ocean trenches.
In these extreme environments, the crushing pressure, scant food and lack of sunlight can make it hard to survive. Scientists know that tiny microbes prosper there, but less is known about evidence of larger marine life.
Researchers travelling along the Kuril–Kamchatka and Aleutian trenches in the northwest Pacific Ocean used a submersible to find tubeworms and mollusks flourishing at over 31,000 feet (9.5 kilometres) deep. The deepest part of the ocean goes down to about 36,000 feet (11 kilometres).
Scientists had surveyed this area before and had hints that larger creatures might live at such depths. The new discovery confirms those suspicions and shows just how extensive the communities are, said Julie Huber, a deep sea microbiologist with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
'Look how many there are, look how deep they are,' said Huber, who was not involved with the research. 'They don't all look the same and they're in a place that we haven't had good access to before.'
The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
In the absence of light to make their own food, many trench-dwellers big and small survive on key elements like carbon that trickle down from higher in the ocean.
Scientists think microbes in this new network may instead be capitalizing on carbon that's accumulated in the trench over time, processing it to create chemicals that seep through cracks in the ocean floor. The tubeworms and mollusks may survive by eating those tiny creatures or living with them and snacking on the products of their labor, scientists said.
With this discovery, future studies will focus on how these deep-sea creatures adapted to survive in such extreme conditions and how exactly they harness chemical reactions for food, study authors Mengran Du with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Vladimir Mordukhovich with the Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement.
Their existence challenges 'long-standing assumptions about life's potential at extreme depths,' the authors said.
___
Adithi Ramakrishnan, The Associated Press
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
9 hours ago
- CTV News
Videographers ‘struck gold' capturing footage of giant Pacific octopus in Nanoose Bay, B.C.
Underwater videographers capture rare footage of giant Pacific octopus on the shore's of Vancouver Island's Nanoose Bay. Two videographers say they were left speechless after an incredible encounter with a giant Pacific octopus on Vancouver Island. The cinematic moment was captured on camera, when the octopus assumed the role of director. 'It came out and fully took over my camera,' said John Roney, an underwater videographer and documentary film editor. 'It gave us this nice inside view of all of its suckers under its arms, and it was even kind enough to turn it off after three minutes of filming.' The polite mollusc captivated Roney and videographer Chris Mullen during a diving session Monday in Nanoose Bay. 'We struck gold because we had the best octopus encounter you could hope for' Mullen said. Roney added how the octopus controlled the encounter as the two divers gave it space to explore. 'It was just touching, feeling, exploring, and was just this really incredible moment. Even with all the dives between us, we've had never quite had one like that,' he said. Once the curious cephalopod tired of the camera equipment, it moved over to Mullen, extending its limbs over his face in what appeared to be an embrace. 'There's this great moment where it reached out and it was touching his mask,' Roney said. Daniel Pauly, a professor of Fisheries and Marine Biology at the University of British Columbia, said scientists have only recently accepted how marine life can mimic human behaviours. 'Most animals, especially the complex ones, have something that resembles our sentience, our agency and our will to do things, and to interact with the world,' he said. Both Mullen and Roney say the experience left them speechless, and in awe of the wildlife that exists in this corner of the province.
CBC
5 days ago
- CBC
Close encounter with a great white shark near Halifax
Geraldine Fernandez and Neil Hammerschlag tell The National about the moment a male great white shark made a surprise appearance during a research expedition off the coast of Halifax.
CBC
6 days ago
- CBC
Krasheninnikov volcano in Russia's Far East erupts for 1st time in centuries
A volcano on Russia's eastern Kamchatka Peninsula erupted overnight into Sunday for what scientists said is the first time in hundreds of years, days after a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake. The Krasheninnikov volcano sent ash six kilometres into the sky, according to staff at the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, where the volcano is located. Images released by state media showed dense clouds of ash rising above the volcano. "The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path, and no ashfall has been recorded in inhabited localities," Kamchatka's emergencies ministry wrote on the Telegram messaging app during the eruption. The eruption was accompanied by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake and prompted a tsunami warning for three areas of Kamchatka. The tsunami warning was later lifted by Russia's Ministry for Emergency Services. "This is the first historically confirmed eruption of the Krasheninnikov volcano in 600 years," Olga Girina, head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, based in the U.S., however, lists Krasheninnikov's last eruption as occurring in 1550, 475 years ago. The reason for the discrepancy was not clear. The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team said late Sunday that the volcano's activity was decreasing but that "moderate explosive activity" could continue. The eruption occurred after a huge earthquake struck Russia's Far East early Wednesday, an 8.8-magnitude temblor that caused small tsunami waves in Japan and Alaska and prompted warnings for Hawaii, North and Central America and Pacific islands south toward New Zealand.
