'Communities' of strange, extreme life seen for first time in deep ocean

Victoria Gill

Science Correspondent, BBC News

Watch: Some strange, extreme life filmed at the depth of the ocean

Clame’s beds, bacteria mats that look like snow and tube worm fields – these are just strange, extreme life examples that have seen, filmed and photographed by an expedition for the deepest parts of the sea.

Divers in a human-capable submersible for ocean trenches in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, a Chinese-Nedicated research team captured life photos at a depth of more than 9 km (5.6miles).

The deepest maritime life filmed before this campaign was at 8,336 meters – a snellfish in 2023 that was filmed in a deep ocean gap on the banks of Japan.

These are new observation Published in Nature Journal.

Scientists took a photo what long, thin tube used to look like the fields of insects

IDSSE/CAS image shows a close-up of loans emerging from sea level, thin, red-brown tube insects. — Scientists took a photo what long, thin tube used to look like the fields of insects

White, pointed organisms are called macellicephaloides grandicirra. Here they are photographed in dense colonies of tube worms that can be up to 30 cm in length.

Idsse/CAS image is captured at a depth of several kilometers in a deep ocean gap. It shows five bright white, pointed shrimp, as it looks like red-brown grass while walking through organisms. When you look more closely, each blade of grass is actually a tube worm that emerges about 30 cm above sea level. — White, pointed organisms are called macellicephaloides grandicirra. Here they are photographed in dense colonies of tube worms that can be up to 30 cm in length.

Although it was accepted among marine scientists that there would be life at these depths, scientists of this mission say that they were “amazing” of animals seen from the windows of their submersible.

The scientific campaign covered more than 2,500 km – discovery of trenches at depths from 5,800 to 9,533 meters.

Researchers traveled in a submersible vehicle called Fenduzhe, which can work at a depth of more than 10 km for several hours at a time.

The team led by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering found what they describe as “prosperous communities” of beings.

Researchers created this overall image of their submersible in a deep ocean ditch

Idsse/CAS is an artist's impression of a submarine vehicle that discovers a deep ocean gap that is filled with red tube-insects that are emerging from the sea floor. — Researchers created this overall image of their submersible in a deep ocean ditch

“It is exciting – especially for a deep marine scientist – to visit a place that humans have not detected,” one of the leading researchers, Dr. Geotong Peng told BBC News. “This is a great opportunity to discover new things. And what we saw was quite amazing.”

Scientists photographed and filmed, which looked like the areas of marine life – a variety of tube worm and mollusk dominated. These animals live in dark and huge pressure in the pitch.

Due to no sunshine, fuel is given by life chemicals at these depths that exit the sea level. Hydrogen sulfide and methane exit the defects in the earth’s crust – or cracks.

Scientists say they have never recorded the species of ever seen. In future studies, they hope to know how these so-called “chemosynthetic” or chemical-fuel organisms convert these chemicals into energy.

“they must [also] Super high pressure has a trick to be suited to life, “Dr Megran Du Ko, also from China’s Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering.” This is another question that we need to answer. ,

Mollusk’s beds are seen relying on chemical “fuel”

Idsse/CAS pink-white organisms that are spreading from cooks such as kook brown sea sediment. They are inrespersed by white, spiny, free-free-oriented animals called polychtes. This image was captured at a depth of about 6 km in the Pacific Ocean gap. — Mollusk’s beds are seen relying on chemical “fuel”

Conclusions challenge the “long -standing perceptions” about such extreme depth and the ability of life on pressures. They also suggest that these communities of animals are really widespread rather than extreme rareness.

Prof. Andrew Sweetman, a senior scientist at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, told the BBC News that the search revealed that “the ecosystems run by methane” could be present in the deepest parts of the sea “.

And how was it, for a scientist, such extreme, pitch-black depth?

Dr. Du told BBC News: “Some people may find it frightening, but I always encourage my students – look from the window on the sea bottom,” she said. “You will be inspired.”