The Underworld of Hydrothermal Vents | 4K ROV Highlights

Hydrothermal Vents gave birth to life on Earth , the oldest microbial life on Earth was found in rocks formed around 4 billion years ago by a Vent in Canada so when we look at the eco systems around Hydrothermal Vents today we could well be looking at similar forms of life that exist in our Solar System Moons with Vents such as Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus ... here be Aliens.

While conducting their seafloor experiments, the #VentUnderworld team encountered fantastical creatures from the Ocean's surface down the seafloor. Pelagic rays, thresher sharks, oceanic white tip sharks, phantom jellyfish, larvaceans, and the charismatic glass octopus are just some examples.

On the seafloor, SOI's stellar ROV pilots aided the scientists in deploying and adhering new scientific equipment known as "Mesh Box Staining Gadgets." These experiments were intended to collect data on whether or not hydrothermal vent animals are traveling through the vent systems below Earth's surface.

Despite the extreme temperatures around the vents — up to 694 degrees Fahrenheit (368 degrees Celsius) — scientists found thriving food chains filled with chemosynthetic bacteria, gastropods, crabs and worms sustained by the rich nutrients gushing from the vents.

But until now, no scientist had thought to look beneath the vents.

As part of the mission, scientists used a robotic arm to clear a square of ocean floor and then placed mesh boxes over cracks in the Earth's crust. When the researchers peered inside those boxes later, they discovered a host of animals living beneath the cavities, confirming that the creatures arrived there from beneath the seafloor.

One animal, the giant tube worm (Riftia pachyptila), was of particular interest to the researchers. Few of the animal's young are seen above the vents, leading scientists to suspect that the larvae hitch a ride inside subsea volcanic fluids to reach new habitats.
www.livescience.com...

a reply to: gortex

from the depths of space to the deepest oceans you got us covered again Gortex

big thanks

Cool stuff!

I'm waiting for the footage from the ROVs when they go deep into the vents themselves and show the source. I'm betting it will not be dull ol' geologic magma, but industrial waste from a species of subterranean/subaquatic cyber-dwarves.

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