'Lost world' discovered around Antarctic vents

January 04, 2012

Communities of species previously unknown to science have been discovered on the seafloor near Antarctica, clustered in the hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents.

The discoveries, made by teams led by the University of Oxford, University of Southampton and British Antarctic Survey, include new species of yeti crab, starfish, barnacles, sea anemones, and potentially an octopus.

For the first time, researchers have used a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to explore the East Scotia Ridge deep beneath the Southern Ocean, where hydrothermal vents, (including 'black smokers' reaching temperatures of up to 382 degrees Celsius) create a unique environment that lacks sunlight, but is rich in certain chemicals. The team reports its findings in this week's issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology.

"Hydrothermal vents are home to animals found nowhere else on the planet that get their energy not from the Sun but from breaking down chemicals, such as hydrogen sulphide," said Professor Alex Rogers of Oxford University's Department of Zoology, who led the research. "The first survey of these particular vents, in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica, has revealed a hot, dark, 'lost world' in which whole communities of previously unknown marine organisms thrive."

Highlights from the ROV dives include images showing huge colonies of the new species of yeti crab, thought to dominate the Antarctic vent ecosystem, clustered around vent chimneys. Elsewhere the ROV spotted numbers of an undescribed predatory sea-star with seven arms crawling across fields of stalked barnacles. It also found an unidentified pale octopus, nearly 2,400 metres down, on the seafloor.

"What we didn't find is almost as surprising as what we did," said Professor Rogers. "Many animals such as tubeworms, vent mussels, vent crabs, and vent shrimps, found in hydrothermal vents in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, simply weren't there."

The team believe that the differences between the groups of animals found around the Antarctic vents and those found around vents elsewhere suggest that the Southern Ocean may act as a barrier to some vent animals. The unique species of the East Scotia Ridge also suggest that, globally, vent ecosystems may be much more diverse, and their interactions more complex, than previously thought.

In April 2011 Professor Rogers was part of an international panel of marine scientists who gathered at Somerville College, Oxford to consider the latest research on the world's oceans. A preliminary report from the panel in June warned that the world's oceans are at risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.

"These findings are yet more evidence of the precious diversity to be found throughout the world's oceans," said Professor Rogers. "Everywhere we look, whether it is in the sunlit coral reefs of tropical waters or these Antarctic vents shrouded in eternal darkness, we find unique ecosystems that we need to understand and protect."

ROV dives were conducted with the help of the crews of RRS James Cook and RRS James Clark Ross. The discoveries were made as part of a consortium project with partners from the University of Oxford, University of Southampton, University of Bristol, Newcastle University, British Antarctic Survey, National Oceanography Centre, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution supported by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the US National Science Foundation (NSF).

Public Library of Science

---

---

	The Ecology of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents by Cindy Lee Van Dover (Author) Teeming with weird and wonderful life--giant clams and mussels, tubeworms, "eyeless" shrimp, and bacteria that survive on sulfur--deep-sea hot-water springs are found along rifts where sea-floor spreading occurs. The theory of plate tectonics predicted the existence of these hydrothermal vents, but they were discovered only in 1977. Since then the sites have attracted teams of scientists seeking to understand how life can thrive in what would seem to be intolerable or extreme conditions of temperature and fluid chemistry. Some suspect that these vents even hold the key to understanding the very origins of life. Here a leading expert provides the first authoritative and comprehensive account of this research in a book intended for students, professionals, and general readers. Cindy Lee Van...
	Down to a Sunless Sea: The Strange World of Hydrothermal Vents (Turnstone Ocean Explorer Book) by Kate Madin (Author) Deep into the ocean's surface, there is another land, where air is replaced by water, the pressure is crushing, and animals depend on clouds of boiling-hot chemicals to survive. These clouds, which would poison most animals, come from hydrothermal vents, one of the most important discoveries of the twentieth century. Follow the scientists who first saw the strange creatures that live at the vents, and find out how oceanographers today are working to understand these puzzling deep-ocean environments.
	Alien Deep: Exploring the Mysterious World of Hydrothermal Vents by Bradley Hague (Author) Appealing to children over age ten, this engaging reference book depicts adventurous and thrilling elements in oceanographic fieldwork. In conjunction with a National Geographic television show, this book will reach a huge audience of marine lovers, as well as children interested in science and exploration. Alien Deep outshines the competition by following a recent, specific deepwater exploration that illuminates new knowledge about our oceans. Following alongside a current expedition, Alien Deep will enable children to observe the processes involved in marine exploration. As scientists delve into the mysterious depths of the ocean, children will be able to witness the excitement of scientific exploration and discovery through enriching text and stunning photography. By describing...
	Deep-Sea Vents: Living Worlds Without Sun by John F. Waters (Author) Describes the discovery and investigation of openings in the ocean floor where heated water escapes and examines the new life forms and other phenomena that have been found there.
	The Octopus's Garden: Hydrothermal Vents and Other Mysteries of the Deep Sea (Helix Books) by Cindy Lee Van Dover (Author) This text introduces readers to the life forms that scientists have only recently discovered thriving 9000-12,000 feet below the sea. It describes the incredibly difficult circumstances under which scientists explore the bottom of the sea and provides an account of voyages to this realm.
	Mid-ocean Ridges: Hydrothermal Interactions between the Lithosphere and Oceans (Geophysical Monograph) by Christopher R. German (Editor), Jian Lin (Editor), Lindsay M. Parsons (Editor), L. M. Parson (Editor)
	Handbook of Deep Sea Hydrothermal Vent Fauna (French Edition) by Desbruyeres (Author)
	Myodocopid Ostracoda of hydrothermal vents in the eastern Pacific Ocean (SuDoc SI 1.27:516) by Louis S. Kornicker (Author)
	Magma to Microbe: Modeling Hydrothermal Processes at Oceanic Spreading Centers (Geophysical Monograph) by Robert Lowell (Editor), Michael Perfit (Editor), Jeff Seewald (Editor) Hydrothermal systems at oceanic spreading centers reflect the complex interactions among transport, cooling and crystallization of magma, fluid circulation in the crust, tectonic processes, water-rock interaction, and the utilization of hydrothermal fluids as a metabolic energy source by microbial and macro-biological ecosystems. The development of mathematical and numerical models that address these complex linkages is a fundamental part the RIDGE 2000 program that attempts to quantify and model the transfer of heat and chemicals from "mantle to microbes" at oceanic ridges. This volume presents the first "state of the art" picture of model development in this context. The most outstanding feature of this volume is its emphasis on mathematical and numerical modeling of a broad array...
	Hydrothermal Processes at Seafloor Spreading Centers (Nato Conference Series (closed) / IV Marine Sciences) by Peter Rona (Editor)