Tubeworms, snails and other weird creatures found under the seafloor
![Tubeworms, snails and other weird creatures found under the seafloor](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2024/tubeworms-snails-and-o.jpg "In this photo provided by Schmidt Ocean Institute, experiments code-named "Mesh Box Staining Gadgets" are sealed to the seafloor at the Tica Vent, a site on the East Pacific Rise 2,500 meters deep. Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute via AP")
Scientists for the first time have uncovered an underworld of animal life thriving beneath the seafloor.
An expedition to a volcanically active ridge in the Pacific off South America worms, snails, giant tubeworms and other strange creatures lurking below steamy underwater hot springs.
Researchers have long studied animal communities near such hydrothermal vents. Many thought only microbes and viruses could survive underneath. To their surprise, an underwater robot last summer overturned volcanic slabs and found diverse life under the vents.
"This was totally unexpected," said study co-author Sabine Gollner with the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research.
Young critters from above the seafloor could be traveling through the vents to settle in the depths, Gollner said.
The research Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
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In this photo provided by Schmidt Ocean Institute, a rock crust sample, upside down, reveals Oasisia and Riftia tubeworms, as well as other organisms. Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute via AP -
In this photo provided by Schmidt Ocean Institute, an eelpout swims by a tower of tubeworms at the Tica Vent, a site on the East Pacific Rise 2,500 meters deep. Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute via AP
Future studies will help reveal whether colonies of animal life exist below other hydrothermal vents around the globe.
"This is an initial discovery that's really promising," said Jason Sylvan, a microbiologist at Texas A&M University who was not involved with the research.
More information: Monika Bright, Animal life in the shallow subseafloor crust at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, Nature Communications (2024). .
Journal information: Nature Communications
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