"They're literally, in places, heaped up upon each other," Rogers said. Crabs normally don't tolerate cold temperatures well, so the vents may be a warm haven for these crabs, Copley said.
Unlike vents in other oceans, the Antarctic vents lack tube worms, mussels and shrimp. Instead they harbor new species of barnacles and anemones, as well as a large brown spiral-shelled snail. The researchers even saw ghost-pale octopuses, which seemed drawn to the lights of the ROV.
"We were completely blown away by what we found," Copley said. "I've worked at vents in the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, but these are the lushest, richest vents, in terms of life, that I've come across."
The discovery helps fill a gap in researchers' understanding of how deep-sea life disperses around the oceans, Rogers said. They had expected that the Southern Ocean would be a historical gateway for vent species to travel between the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, and there do seem to be some species, such as the yeti crab, that are related to species found at other vents. Those relationships seem to reach back into geological history, Copley said, when there was a connection between the Antarctic and the eastern Pacific.
But the vast differences between Antarctic vents and vents found elsewhere suggest that the area is not a gateway but a biological region in its own right, Rogers said. The cold Antarctic waters may act as a barrier to species that start their lives as swimming, feeding larvae, he said. On the other hand, larvae that carry their own food supply with them in eggs — known as lecithotrophic larvae — may be able to survive and disperse in the chilly Southern Ocean.
As humans increasingly exploit the deep seas for fish, oil and mining, understanding how species are dispersed is crucial, Copley said.
"Until we understand what governs the patterns of life at deep-sea vents, how interconnected their populations, how well life disperses from vent to vent, we can't make responsible decisions about how to manage these deep-ocean resources."
You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.
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9 Comments
Add CommentI am sorry but I do not understand why we would need to "manage these deep-ocean resources". The life already there seems to be managing the resources just fine without our need to intervene. The only thing we need to do is to manage ourselves in such a way that these areas remain prestine instead of poluted like everything else "we" have stuck our noses into.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is fascinated to see the increadable diversity of life in these areas. I really thing we need to study such things but I get the nasty feeling that the word "management" used here realy means "exploit".
Indeed, BillR.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy not substitute the word "protect" for "manage". As in "we must protect these previously hidden creatures from the insatiable appetite of humans, a species which undoubtably will one day arrive in the Antarctic in numbers great enough to eat them all and drill for oil."
Good luck, Yeti Crabs. You and your neighbors are up to your gills in it now.
The statment that the "energy comes not from the sun but from the hydrothermal energy generated in the oceanic crust" is incorrect. It is Chemical Energy - not heat, which is the basis for the food chain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisem...no, I believe what they stated is correct. The heat from the vents is the source of the food chain. If/When the vent stops, all the creatures either move on or die.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe head mentions ghost octopi, but I saw no mention of them in the article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPage two.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUhh...sorry, but no. Actually it is the high content of chemical nutrients in the water that is coming out of the hydrothermal that allows the bacteria to grow that the crabs and other organisms are eating. If it weren't for these nutrients pretty much nothing could live down there regardless of the fact that it would be warm enough to survive near the vents.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this“As humans increasingly exploit the deep seas for fish, oil and mining, understanding how species are dispersed is crucial, Copley said.”
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Until we understand what governs the patterns of life at deep-sea vents, how interconnected their populations, how well life disperses from vent to vent, we can't make responsible decisions about how to manage these deep-ocean resources."
How about using your brains, leave them alone, do nothing with them and tell NO ONE where they are! That way they can be left to live out their own lives without the interference of humans.
I would like to know more about the life around all vents?Do they predate most other life on Earth?If not how did they get where they are?As for the word manage it would suggest some kind of future harvest of the vents,there and elsewhere.I seem to remember that the Japanese are using some kind drag to fish the bottom of the Pacific,and mining by them and others using the same methods?With little care of the damage they might be causing.It would probably be wise to get as many genetic samples they can before it,s too late.Who knows what secrets there might be to be found?Since the Antarctic is already under international control those vents should be protected.But what about all the others?
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