Latest news with #marinelife
BBC News
6 hours ago
- Science
- BBC News
Strange life seen for first time in extreme depths of the ocean
Imagine diving deep down to the bottom of the ocean, a place so dark that sunlight can't reach a special underwater vehicle - called a submersible (a small submarine) -that's exactly what a team of scientists from China did, exploring deep ocean trenches - like giant underwater valleys - in the northwest Pacific Ocean, looking for scientists dove more than 9,500 meters down, that's over 5.9 miles and deeper than the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest, is they discovered in the dark depths surprised them. Down in the pitch-black darkness, they saw beds of clams, mats of bacteria that looked like ice, and fields of strange worms called tube creatures live under very high pressure with no sunlight. They survive by using chemicals like methane and hydrogen sulfide that come from cracks in the ocean floor. This is called chemosynthesis, which means 'making energy from chemicals'.Before this trip, the deepest sea animal ever filmed was at 8,336 meters. But the team went even deeper and found more life than anyone expected living in such a dark and high-pressure scientists say they have recorded species never seen Xiaotong Peng, one of the lead researchers, told BBC News: "It's exciting – especially for a deep sea scientist – to go to a place that human beings have not explored. "It's a great opportunity to discover new things. And what we saw was quite amazing." Before this research it was assumed that life would struggle in such deep, dark and high pressure places under water. Professor Andrew Sweetman from the Scottish Association for Marine Science, said these deep-sea areas might have entire ecosystems powered by methane. An ecosystem is a community of living things that depend on each other to survive. Methane is a gas that can come from the Earth and help some bacteria Megran Du, also from China's Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering says "They must [also] have a trick to adapt to life in super high pressure."That's another question we need to answer." The submersible the team used is called Fendouzhe and can hold a crew of three. It's able to dive deeper than 10,000 meters and stay there for hours. The team onboard explored more than 2,500km of ocean trenches - about the same distance as travelling from Glasgow to Rome in Du, another scientist on the team, told the BBC: "Some people might find it frightening, but I always encourage my students – look through the window at the bottom of the sea. You will be inspired."
The Guardian
18 hours ago
- Science
- The Guardian
Thousands of giant cuttlefish under threat from South Australia's toxic algal bloom
Thousands of giant cuttlefish gather in South Australia's Spencer gulf amid fears the state's toxic algal bloom could prove catastrophic for the globally unique species. These rare cuttlefish are genetically distinct from any other population the world and only gather once a year to breed in the same small area off the coast of Whyalla. Scientists fear the ongoing toxic algal bloom, which has already decimated marine life in other parts of the gulf, could pose a significant threat to the cuttlefish population.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
A 'vibrant oasis' of chemical-eating creatures found in the deep Pacific
A 'vibrant oasis' of chemical-eating creatures found in the deep Pacific By Will Dunham (Reuters) -Scientists diving to astounding depths in two oceanic trenches in the northwest Pacific have discovered thriving communities of marine creatures that get their sustenance not by eating organic matter like most animals but by turning chemicals into energy. They found these chemosynthesis-based animal communities - dominated by tube worms and clams - during a series of dives aboard a crewed submersible to the bottom of the Kuril-Kamchatka and Aleutian trenches. These creatures are nourished by fluids rich in hydrogen sulfide and methane seeping from the seafloor in this dark and frigid realm beyond the reach of sunlight. These ecosystems were discovered at depths greater than the height of Mount Everest, Earth's tallest peak. The deepest one was 9,533 meters (31,276 feet) below the ocean surface in the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. This was almost 25% deeper than such animals had previously been documented anywhere. "What makes our discovery groundbreaking is not just its greater depth - it's the astonishing abundance and diversity of chemosynthetic life we observed," said marine geochemist Mengran Du of the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, or IDSSE, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one of the authors of the research published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. "Unlike isolated pockets of organisms, this community thrives like a vibrant oasis in the vast desert of the deep sea," Du added. While some marine animals have been documented at even greater depths, nearly 11,000 meters (36,000 feet) below the surface in the Pacific's Mariana Trench, Du said, those were not chemical eaters. In the new research, the scientists used their submersible, called the Fendouzhe, to journey down to what is called the hadal zone. The hadal zone is where one of the continent-sized plates that make up Earth's crust slides under a neighboring plate in a process called subduction. "The ocean environment down there is characterized by cold, total darkness and active tectonic activities," said IDSSE marine geologist and study co-author Xiaotong Peng, leader of the research program. This environment, Peng said, was found to harbor "the deepest and the most extensive chemosynthetic communities known to exist on our planet." The Kuril-Kamchatka Trench runs about 2,900 km (1,800 miles) and is located off the southeastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The Aleutian Trench runs roughly 3,400 km (2,100 miles) off the southern coastline of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The newly observed ecosystems were dominated by two types of chemical-eating animals - tube worms that were red, gray or white in color and around 20-30 cm (8-12 inches) long and clams that were white in color and up to 23 cm (nine inches) long. Some of these appear to be previously unknown species, Du said. "Even though living in the harshest environment, these life forms found their way in surviving and thriving," Du said. Some non-chemical-eating animals, sustained by eating organic matter and dead marine creatures that filter down from above, also were found living in these ecosystems, including sea anemones, spoon worms and sea cucumbers. Du, the expedition's chief scientist, described what it was like to visit this remote watery sphere. "Diving in the submersible was an extraordinary experience -like traveling through time. Each descent transported me to a new deep-sea realm, as if unveiling a hidden world and unraveling its mysteries," Du said, while expressing amazement at the remarkable resilience and beauty of the creatures the scientists witnessed. The study illustrates how life can flourish in some of the most extreme conditions on Earth - and potentially beyond. "These findings extend the depth limit of chemosynthetic communities on Earth. Future works should focus on how these creatures adapt to such an extreme depth," Peng said. "We suggest that similar chemosynthetic communities may also exist in extraterrestrial oceans, as chemical species like methane and hydrogen are common there," Peng added.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
'Communities' of strange, extreme life seen for first time in deep ocean
Beds of clams, mats of bacteria that look like ice and fields of tube worms - these are just some examples of the strange, extreme life that an expedition to the deepest parts of the ocean has observed, filmed and photographed. Diving in a human-occupied submersible to ocean trenches in the northwest Pacific Ocean, a Chinese-led research team captured pictures of life at depths of more than 9km (5.6miles). The deepest marine life filmed before this expedition was at 8,336m - a snailfish that was filmed swimming in a deep ocean trench off the coast of Japan in 2023. These new observations are published in the journal Nature. Although it was accepted among marine scientists that there would be life at these depths, scientists on this mission say the abundance of animals they saw from the windows of their submersible was "amazing". The scientific expedition covered more than 2,500km - exploring trenches at depths ranging from 5,800 to 9,533m. Researchers travelled in a submersible vehicle called Fendouzhe, which can operate at depths of more than 10km for several hours at a time. The team, led by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering, discovered what they describe as "thriving communities" of creatures. "It's exciting - especially for a deep sea scientist - to go to a place that human beings have not explored," one of the lead researchers, Dr Xiaotong Peng, told BBC News. "It's a great opportunity to discover new things. And what we saw was quite amazing." Scientists photographed and filmed what looked like fields of marine life - dominated by various different types of tube worm and mollusc. These animals live in the pitch dark and under vast pressure. With no sunlight, life at these depths is fuelled by chemicals that seep out of the ocean floor. Hydrogen sulfide and methane seep out of faults - or cracks - in the Earth's crust. The scientists say they have recorded species never seen before. In future studies, they hope to work out how the bodies of these so called "chemosynthetic" or chemical-fuelled creatures convert these chemicals into energy. "They must [also] have a trick to adapt to life in super high pressure," added Dr Megran Du, also from China's Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering. "That's another question we need to answer." The findings challenge "long-standing assumptions" about life's potential at such extreme depths and pressures. They also suggest that these communities of animals, rather than extreme rarities, are actually widespread. Prof Andrew Sweetman, a senior scientist from the Scottish Association for marine science told BBC News that the discovery showed that whole "ecosystems driven by methane may exist in the deepest parts of the ocean". And how did it feel, for a scientist, to descend to such extreme, pitch-black depths? Dr Du told BBC News: "Some people might find it frightening, but I always encourage my students - look through the window at the bottom of the sea," she said. "You will be inspired."
Asharq Al-Awsat
a day ago
- Science
- Asharq Al-Awsat
A ‘Vibrant Oasis' of Chemical-Eating Creatures Found in the Deep Pacific
Scientists diving to astounding depths in two oceanic trenches in the northwest Pacific have discovered thriving communities of marine creatures that get their sustenance not by eating organic matter like most animals but by turning chemicals into energy. They found these chemosynthesis-based animal communities - dominated by tube worms and clams - during a series of dives aboard a crewed submersible to the bottom of the Kuril-Kamchatka and Aleutian trenches. These creatures are nourished by fluids rich in hydrogen sulfide and methane seeping from the seafloor in this dark and frigid realm beyond the reach of sunlight. These ecosystems were discovered at depths greater than the height of Mount Everest, Earth's tallest peak. The deepest one was 9,533 meters (31,276 feet) below the ocean surface in the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. This was almost 25% deeper than such animals had previously been documented anywhere. "What makes our discovery groundbreaking is not just its greater depth - it's the astonishing abundance and diversity of chemosynthetic life we observed," said marine geochemist Mengran Du of the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, or IDSSE, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one of the authors of the research published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. "Unlike isolated pockets of organisms, this community thrives like a vibrant oasis in the vast desert of the deep sea," Du added. While some marine animals have been documented at even greater depths, nearly 11,000 meters (36,000 feet) below the surface in the Pacific's Mariana Trench, Du said, those were not chemical eaters. In the new research, the scientists used their submersible, called the Fendouzhe, to journey down to what is called the hadal zone. The hadal zone is where one of the continent-sized plates that make up Earth's crust slides under a neighboring plate in a process called subduction. "The ocean environment down there is characterized by cold, total darkness and active tectonic activities," said IDSSE marine geologist and study co-author Xiaotong Peng, leader of the research program. This environment, Peng said, was found to harbor "the deepest and the most extensive chemosynthetic communities known to exist on our planet." The Kuril-Kamchatka Trench runs about 2,900 km (1,800 miles) and is located off the southeastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The Aleutian Trench runs roughly 3,400 km (2,100 miles) off the southern coastline of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The newly observed ecosystems were dominated by two types of chemical-eating animals - tube worms that were red, gray or white in color and around 20-30 cm (8-12 inches) long and clams that were white in color and up to 23 cm (nine inches) long. Some of these appear to be previously unknown species, Du said. "Even though living in the harshest environment, these life forms found their way in surviving and thriving," Du said. Some non-chemical-eating animals, sustained by eating organic matter and dead marine creatures that filter down from above, also were found living in these ecosystems, including sea anemones, spoon worms and sea cucumbers. Du, the expedition's chief scientist, described what it was like to visit this remote watery sphere. "Diving in the submersible was an extraordinary experience -like traveling through time. Each descent transported me to a new deep-sea realm, as if unveiling a hidden world and unraveling its mysteries," Du said, while expressing amazement at the remarkable resilience and beauty of the creatures the scientists witnessed. The study illustrates how life can flourish in some of the most extreme conditions on Earth - and potentially beyond. "These findings extend the depth limit of chemosynthetic communities on Earth. Future works should focus on how these creatures adapt to such an extreme depth," Peng said. "We suggest that similar chemosynthetic communities may also exist in extraterrestrial oceans, as chemical species like methane and hydrogen are common there," Peng added.
