A world of previously unseen creatures has been found thriving next to boiling vents of water, several miles under the surface of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. Hundreds of hairy-chested yeti crabs, a mysterious-looking pale octopus and colonies of limpets, snails and barnacles were found by British scientists at a hydrothermal vent located in the ocean's East Scotia Ridge.
Prof Alex Rogers of Oxford University used a remotely operated vehicle called Isis to scout the sea bed around the ridge, which spans about 2.4km and features springs of black, smoky water that can reach temperatures of almost 400C (752F). The hydrothermal vents are powered by underwater volcanoes, and the scalding temperatures and rich mineral content of the water gives rise to vast rocky chimneys that support a wide variety of life forms.
An image of some of the thriving life found beneath the Southern Ocean. Photograph: Oxford University/PA
"The visually dominant species are the yeti crabs, which occur in fantastically high densities, up to 600 per square metre around the southern ridge," said Rogers, who led the expedition aboard the RSS James Cook in January 2010. "Also high densities of stalked barnacles, a large snail from a group called the peltospiroids, and we've also got small, green limpets which occur all over the vents."
The first-known yeti crab, Kiwa hirsuta, was described living near a hydrothermal vent in the south pacific in 2005 and, since then, several species have been discovered in different parts of the undersea world. Around other hydrothermal vents, however, these creatures tend occur in lower numbers; and the new species found in the ESR are not only more numerous but also visually distinct.
"Hirsuta has long hairs on its limbs and its claws, whereas our yeti crabs have extremely hairy chests. One of the nicknames of the crabs which developed during the cruise was the Hasselhoff crabs because they had these dense mats of [hair] on their undersides, the equivalents of their chests."
Another striking creature spotted by the scientists was a pale octopus, which was photographed by the team. Rogers suspected it might be a new species related to the Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis seen at other underwater vents around the world.
In total, the expedition brought back more than 12,000 samples of rocks, bacteria and animals. Rogers said: "One of the staggering things we did find is that these vents are completely different to those seen anywhere else – the animals existing at these vents are almost all new to science," he said. The findings were published on Tuesday in the journal PLoS Biology.
"What we didn't find is almost as surprising as what we did," said Rogers. "Many animals such as tubeworms, vent mussels, vent crabs, and vent shrimps, which are found in hydrothermal vents in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, simply weren't there."
Last week, scientists at the University of Southampton announced the discovery of new creatures in the so-called "Dragon Vent" in the south-west Indian Ocean.
Dr Jon Copley, a marine biologist at the University of Southampton who led the exploration of the Dragon Vent and is also an author on the latest PLoS Biology research paper, said that exploration of the world's deep-sea vents was a race against time.
"The exploitation of the deep ocean is overtaking its exploration. We're fishing in deeper and deeper waters, oil and gas is moving into deeper waters and now there's mining starting to take place in deep waters. We need to understand how species disperse and evolve in the deep oceans if we're going to make responsible decisions about managing their resources."
Rogers added that the vents revealed much about how deep water communities have evolved, and how they are distributed across the world's oceans. "In the space of a single eight-week cruise, we've changed our level of understanding of these systems completely. We've changed our ideas about how vent systems are distributed and the factors that may influence that distribution. What that tells us is that our level of knowledge of the deep sea in general is extremely poor indeed."
He added that hydrothermal vents had already changed the way scientists thought about how life exists on earth. "They told scientists that life could exist in the absence of sunlight – you could have food webs based on mechanical energy. They were also informative about the extreme conditions under which life could exist, they told us about where else in the universe life may occur. Hydrothermal vent biology has stimulated a whole new science of astrobiology."
Comments
4 January 2012 11:07AM
It's sad to see that this is a race to identify new ecosystems before we eradicate them.
4 January 2012 11:41AM
Er, could we have a bigger image of the thriving life?
4 January 2012 11:44AM
Agreed. This should be a pleasing and uplifting article, but man's negative influence looms heavily over it. The sooner there is a worldwide large scale uptake of renewable technology, the better, so these amazing parts of our world can be left alone to develop
4 January 2012 11:47AM
What's so "mysterious" looking about the octopus? In what way is it more mysterious than other cephalopods or other octopods found at vents?
4 January 2012 11:54AM
If you follow the link provided in the article you can see the original images in the publication itself; PLoS Biology is an open access journal.
4 January 2012 11:54AM
"
"
I'd be interested to know how this eco system operates, seeing as organisms in other deep water vent systems rely upon creatures like tube worms (ie. tubeworms are typically the lowest in the food chain in deep water vent systems).
4 January 2012 11:58AM
The BBC have also covered this today, including a fascinating video clip of the vent.
It's no surprise that so many new species have been discovered here. The driver is the extreme isolation from other vents, but what puzzles me is how life became established in such places in the first place.
4 January 2012 12:01PM
Surely as equally perplexing as how life got started anywhere! Some people think life first evolved in these vents before radiating into what we consider more "normal" environments.
4 January 2012 12:09PM
The most exciting aspect of this story is that it further opens the already very plausible possibility that there is life on other planets in our solar system. Through the chemosynthesis demonstrated here, it gives me hope that other life forms can exist in the absence of sunlight. Europa, I'm looking at you...
4 January 2012 12:13PM
Yep, one of the great puzzles is how life got started in the first place.
Self replication is a mind boggling concept. I particularly liked Richard Dawkins concept of artificial selection using simple computer models as described in The Blind Watchmaker.
4 January 2012 12:15PM
Ah! Thank you for pointing that out (I'll look closer next time, promise), downloading the paper onto the iPad imminently. All those little white bobs are little hairy crabs.
4 January 2012 12:16PM
Just the fact that an animal called a hairy-chested yeti crab exists should be enough reason to rejoice in the splendour and silliness of the universe
4 January 2012 12:21PM
A pale octopus -
great, will it be able to fill in for Paul the Octopus for this summer football thing?
4 January 2012 12:25PM
I just hope this unique ecosystem isn't wiped out by any future oil ventures.
4 January 2012 12:28PM
Did the article just say that temperatures can get up to 400C???? that's strange; water boils at 100C so it would be vapour not liquid!!
4 January 2012 12:28PM
I'd say that the only life in our solar system is on planet Earth. While it's quite possible for some form of life to still exist deep underground on Mars, it's highly unlikely as life (as we know it Jim) needs liquid water to survive.
The concept of life surviving inside comets for example, is also whacky IMO. Life would require extremely long periods of time and the right conditions for any primordial soup to enable self replication to occur. The Earth provides these conditions and I am sure that other Earth-like planets exist elsewhere, but not within our solar system.
As for Europa, I'm not convinced. What remains clear though is that we are threatening much of life on planet Earth. Every efforts should therefore be put into looking after life on Earth and not hoping to escape this planet before we ruin it.
4 January 2012 12:38PM
That's not weird. THIS is weird.
4 January 2012 12:38PM
Well they are steam vents! Also consider the huge pressures that occur at such depths. I believe that Boyle's Law applies here: The higher the pressure, the lower the volume of gas.
4 January 2012 12:39PM
When under pressure water has an increase in boiling temperature. The same way a pressure cooker increases boiling point and conversely a increase in altitude decreases boiling point the same action is at play here.
4 January 2012 12:40PM
At those depths the pressure is so great that the water is unable to boil or vaporize and so can reach very high temperatures.
4 January 2012 12:40PM
Trying again......
4 January 2012 12:42PM
YAY OIL!
4 January 2012 12:44PM
It is very likely that there is a lot of (salty) water in the oceans of Europa below the ice. So that's the water query in your argument answered.
Your other point about extremely long periods of time and the right conditions being required, well I would say that finding pale octopuses, hairy-chested crabs and the other new species referred to in the article (at temperatures of 400 C) would indicate that there is at least a possibility of finding very basic life forms in Europa's waters. How long have conditions been like this on Europa? Probably a very long time.
As for your last point about efforts being made to preserve life on Earth, I agree. However, I still think that should not be to the detriment of further exploration of potential habitats for life in our solar system and beyond.
Many scientists agree that the possibility of finding life on Europa is great enough to warrant sending exploratory craft there, so I think your flat out rejection of the possibility smacks of narrow mindedness (which I hate).
4 January 2012 1:18PM
The creatures are not "thriving in temperatures of 400C" or anything like it.
Vent water exits at up to 400C and heads upward. Some microbes can reproduce at up to 122C, and survive even higher temps. DNA breaks down at around 150C.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperthermophile
4 January 2012 1:36PM
@BlueCloud
Never say never. I believe there is other life in the solar system. We are so wrong in our belief in this planet why should we question the state of others?
The sooner the better as well so as to add to/undermine our collective human perspective. It would hopefully kneecap religion and give us more motivation to get out 'there'.
4 January 2012 1:59PM
I don't reject the possibility of life on Europa, I simply think it's extremely unlikely. When NASA were toying with going to Mars in the sixties they approached James Lovelock to find out what signs of life to look for. In reply Lovelock stated that Mars was very unlikely to support any life as the atmosphere showed no signs of entropy reduction (no free methane, oxygen or hydrogen). NASA went on to send probes to Mars regardless, only to prove Lovelock right. Since then our interest in the red planet has waned somewhat while our awareness of life (and our impacts) on this planet has increased immensely.
Life needs sufficient energy to sever chemical bonds and Europa has little available energy, hence my scepticism. When we make decisions to invest resources we should be careful to invest wisely and not go off on expensive wild goose chases, which may be fun, but get us nowhere.
4 January 2012 2:18PM
I don't, as my last post makes clear. I do think that life exists on planets across the universe where the conditions are right and I reckon we will discover signs of life eventually, although it's very unlikely we'll go visiting anytime considering the vast distances involved.
I can quite understand the desire to discover life in our solar system as it would be much easier to reach it than having to invent interstellar travel, or even intergalactical travel.
I believe we should keep our feet on the ground even while our heads are in the clouds. We have yet to fully explore this planet as this article clearly shows, so a realistic approach to space exploration involving sensible budgets (remember the ISS?) would enable more funds to go into finding out more about life in the deep ocean and how best to ensure life thrives in our presence. We have work to do!
4 January 2012 2:29PM
Bluecloud, I'm sorry, but it is already too late to reverse the effects of climate change. Now is a good time to either adapt to what will be a very different looking Earth or start looking for alternative accommodation.
4 January 2012 2:39PM
We WON'T find any 'alternative accommodation' in in any kind of reasonable human time-frame unless we learn to live sustainably first. We will wipe ourselves out before we invent the technology to get us anywhere liveable. Just in case it's fluffy mop-top Brian Cox's hubris that encourages you to think it's within our grasp: Cox often goes on about how the nearest likely accommodating planet is 50 years away at 99.9999% speed of light (a speed that is possible with correct technologies). What he always fails to point out is that it takes 80 years to reach 99.99999% speed of light. Then there's the awkward little question of slowing the bloody space-ship down and landing! That's without mentioning the amount of fuel needed to be given away to some people who'll never come back by a planet currently slugging it out over their abilities to drive pathetic little cars from A to B.
It's not an option without learning how to live here first.
4 January 2012 2:40PM
The tubeworms are not the lowest in the food chain, chemosynthetic bacteria are. That is what the tubeworms live off. They host the bacteria and their gills (the part seen outside the tube) supply them with the oxygen they need to gain energy from the elements coming out of the vents.
At vents it is these bacteria that take the place of algae in the sunlit ecosystems. Note though that despite some descriptions these communities are not completely independent of the sun as they need molecular oxygen to thrive and without cyanobacteria and algae there would not be any available, in the air or the sea. It is the oxygen that connects these ecosystems to others.
I presume some other organism hosts or lives off similar bacteria fixing metals from the vent in this community. The currents in the Southern Ocean sweep around the globe and thus form a barrier for the entry of organisms from further north which probably explains why some species are absent, their larvae simply didn't get swept there. What is perhaps more remarkable considering the isolation of many of these sites is how many species are present between sites and how recognisably similar they are. But then these vents often don't live all that long in geological time so these animals must have evolved an efficient larval dispersal system. Much like the worms who specialise in breaking down the bones of dead whales on the seafloor.
4 January 2012 2:45PM
Well, I would agree with all of that.
4 January 2012 3:01PM
I agree we will have to adapt to a rapidly changing climate, but there is no "alternative accommodation" anywhere within reach. This concept of getting off the planet is a convenient distraction from facing our responsibilities to looking after life on Earth.
4 January 2012 4:46PM
So they've discovered some new animals? Great but it doesn't say anywhere what they taste like!?
4 January 2012 6:20PM
These discoveries of life living in extreme environments are testimony to how adaptable and resilient nature is. Hopefully, it can overcome the extreme pressure humans are putting on it at the moment, that is at least enough to hang-on until the exit of our species from the scene.
4 January 2012 6:27PM
Life needs sufficient energy to sever chemical bonds and Europa has little available energy, hence my scepticism.
Bluecloud
Where would the energy to maintain liquid water come from, then? Energy balances in the Jovian system are a bit more complicated than in the Earth/Moon system.
James Lovelock is a bit weird, although anyone criticised by Hugh Delingpole can't be too far off the mark. He extrapolates more than is wise (hence the Gaia Hypothesis, which is, at best, the description of emergent behaviour in complex biogeochemical networks subject to natural selection at the level of individual genetic systems).
We just don't know about the chemical equilibrium of the Europan ocean, although the observation of what are likely to be organic compounds in the outer solar system suggest ongoing local reductions in entropy, even if by purely physico-chemical processes.
4 January 2012 6:59PM
neither by the BBC wildlife production team.
4 January 2012 7:03PM
At ocean floor pressures water boils at far higher temperature.
4 January 2012 7:16PM
tis the ghost of paul ....
4 January 2012 7:59PM
It's not entirely certain that there is liquid water on Europa, whereas there's plenty of it on Earth and it's much easier to study life here.
5 January 2012 6:26AM
There's a nice 5 minute interview and video of these vents on the PBS News Hour. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/science/jan-june12/underthesea_01-04.html
5 January 2012 9:08AM
Little available energy is not no energy. This does not mean life cannot be, only it limits how metabolically active the life can be. There are bacteria that get chemical energy from elements in the rocks kilometres beneath our feet. They respire incredibly slowly, but they are still alive. Ditto the algae that live inside the surface layer of the rocks in the Antarctic Dry Valleys, protected by the rocks from dessication and respiring very slowly because of the extreme cold, nevertheless they get to take advantage of the sunlight unobscured by deep snow and ice. They are still alive.
Life does not have to run around at the frenetic pace of us warm blooded creatures. If there is the possibility of a second, even partly independent biogenesis under the ice on Europa, then we should go look because the understanding that would come from such a possibility would be enormous.
That is why Nasa went to Mars, why it is thinking of going to Europa, why we sent a probe to Titan (thinking outside the box, liquid methane can, theoretically substitute for liquid water). You need to stop thinking of interesting, crawling aliens and get with what we can learn from much humbler organisms. I am no microbiologist (no muscles in bacteria) but I am enough of a molecular geneticist to see the possibilities. If nothing else, if the biogenesis on Europa, or Titan, is independent then we get to calibrate the Drake Equation.
5 January 2012 2:42PM
Dr Copley was one of my university lecturers last year. He told us he wanted to name the crab after David Hasselhoff because it had a hairy chest.