Animal Life Discovered Thriving Below the Seafloor
📸: Schmidt Ocean Institute The hydrothermal vent area on the East Pacific Rise is located at depths that are impossible for people to access, because it is located 2,515 meters below the surface of the ocean. However, this region of the seafloor that is characterized by volcanic activity is dotted with holes which allow heat and minerals to penetrate. That establishes a chemosynthetic foundation upon which underwater food chains can flourish. A recent discovery shows that there is a hydrothermal ecology that is considerably more intricate than we previously knew about. "[the] cavities were described by geologists previously but they have not seen animals and us biologists did not know that the cavities are there but once we tried to collect the rocks so we can search for tubeworm larvae on the surface we broke into the cavities and discovered the animals," explained Monika Bright, a marine biologist at the University of Vienna. There is a high de...