A lot of things happened in 1977- The Atari 2600 gaming system was released, Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as the 39th U.S president, and NASA launched Voyager 1. But something else happened, a huge breakthrough for the marine science world. An expedition to the Galápagos Rift revealed hydrothermal vents, and along with it new and unknown creatures that somehow has survived in very harsh conditions. Hydrothermal vents are most commonly found along mid-oceanic ridges, such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Galápagos Rift. Seawater seeping deep into the Earth’s crust through fissures and cracks in the seafloor is heated by magma beneath the surface, causing the water to boil and rise back up to the surface. As it rises, the water dissolves and
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Still others, such as the tubeworms, host the microorganisms in their tissues in exchange for organic compounds that the microbes fashion from the vent chemicals and seawater. Basically, these animals take an environment that would be lethal to practically any other living organism and thrive in it. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the definition of chemosynthesis is the “synthesis of organic compounds (as in living cells) by energy derived from inorganic chemical reactions”. Essentially, it’s when microbes harness the energy from the chemical reactions caused by the release of minerals and chemicals from the vents and turn that energy into food. These microbes are then eaten by other animals in their own little food web, therefore thriving without the usual sources of food and energy. A plethora of previously undiscovered animals were uncovered living in this unique world in 1977, and more have been discovered since. Many of these animals, such as the Deepsea Vent Octopus (shown below), belong to larger classes but are completely unique to their genuses. The Deepsea Vent Octopus is the only known species of the genus
Still others, such as the tubeworms, host the microorganisms in their tissues in exchange for organic compounds that the microbes fashion from the vent chemicals and seawater. Basically, these animals take an environment that would be lethal to practically any other living organism and thrive in it. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the definition of chemosynthesis is the “synthesis of organic compounds (as in living cells) by energy derived from inorganic chemical reactions”. Essentially, it’s when microbes harness the energy from the chemical reactions caused by the release of minerals and chemicals from the vents and turn that energy into food. These microbes are then eaten by other animals in their own little food web, therefore thriving without the usual sources of food and energy. A plethora of previously undiscovered animals were uncovered living in this unique world in 1977, and more have been discovered since. Many of these animals, such as the Deepsea Vent Octopus (shown below), belong to larger classes but are completely unique to their genuses. The Deepsea Vent Octopus is the only known species of the genus