Worms and snails handle the pressure 2,500m below the Pacific surface

October 19, 2024
by Bénédicte REY



Photographie publiée par le Schmidt Ocean Institute montrant une lycote nageant près de vers tubicoles au site de l’évent Tica, sur la dorsale Est-Pacifique.


Giant worms found wriggling under the Pacific seabed have unveiled a thriving ecosystem in a fiercely hostile environment, according to a study published by Nature Communications.

The team found the booming community 2,515 meters (8,250 feet) below the surface just off the coast of central America.

An underwater oasis has been created under a chain of mountains that run from north-to-south in the Pacific. In this part of the chain, two tectonic plates are moving away from each other, opening up hydrothermal vents that let out water heated by magma and loaded with chemical compounds.

The seabed zone was first discovered in the 1970s. But the latest research found tube worms and mollusks that thrive despite water pressure 250 times greater than at the surface and the total darkness.

More:
https://phys.org/news/2024-10-worms-snails-pressure-2500m-pacific.html