E-mail Questions About Deep Sea Life

Brett Fields asks: Down in the deep parts of the Pacific Ocean where those geothermal vents are. Do scientists have the foggiest idea what lives down there?

Captain Nelson answers:

The following answer was compiled by a colleague of mine, Commander Dale Bretschneider, NOAA who is at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Washington. The scientists in one part of his laboratory are exploring the deep ocean geothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Oregon and Washington. Part of the following answer was also taken from the publication OCEANUS that you may be interested in reading.

The theory of plate tectonics, the idea that the surface of the Earth is made up of several rigid plates that are in constant motion, was born in the late 1960s as a merging of the concepts of continental drift and seafloor spreading. Plate motions, and the forces that create and destroy these plates, are still being defined and understood and I would like to share with you some of the wonderful phenomena that results from this movement.

Over the past decade, there have been several large oceanographic expeditions to explore the biological communities discovered near deep ocean hydrothermal vents. In discussions with scientists and submarine pilots who have dived on these vents, one senses their awe at having stepped into another world. It is a very surrealistic scene. Everything moves so slowly and fish do not seem to be disturbed by the sub. The discovery in 1977 of remarkable animal communities at deep sea hydrothermal vents in the eastern Pacific have been a source of amazement and intense studies by teams of biologists around the world. These animals include giant tubeworms (over 1.5m long!), giant white clams, mussels, gastropods (snails), fish, crabs, shrimp and other strange lifeforms.

Time for a Quiz!

Let's see if you Midlink readers can answer these scientific questions:

1. How fast do you think that these animals grow, compared to their shallow water relatives?

2. What do they eat, since they live in total darkness where no plants can live?

3. How do these nearly sedentary lifeforms locate and colonize new vents, often a large distance away?

I hope that this has answered your question satisfactorily. Please keep reading MidLink for more information on your intesting question.

Your Friend,
Captain Craig S. Nelson, NOAA
Commanding Officer
NOAA Ship MALCOLM BALDRIGE
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