Giant White Tube Worms Are Thriving In Hydrothermal Vent Cavities Beneath The Seafloor Near The Galápagos Islands
Beneath the seafloor on the East Pacific Rise, an ocean ridge where several tectonic plates meet, giant white worms and other creatures are thriving in the cavities of hydrothermal vents.
Previously, scientists thought microbes and viruses were the only life forms that existed in such confined spaces and inhospitable environments. However, a deep-sea exploration conducted by Schmidt Ocean Institute last year revealed that giant tube worms live there as well.
“Here we report, to our knowledge for the first time, the discovery of animals excavated from fluid-filled, shallow cavities in the sub-seafloor of deep-sea hydrothermal vents,” wrote the researchers of the study.
“While the sub-seafloor microbial and viral biosphere at deep-sea vents has been described, we show that animal life also exists in this shallow rocky sub-seafloor province.”
The tube worms reached up to eight inches long for one species (Oasisia alvinae) and over 19 inches long for another (Riftia pachyptila).
The white worms were crammed between slabs of solidified lava along the East Pacific Rise, located near the Galápagos Islands off the coast of South America.
Initially, the researchers had been looking for the larvae of tube worms and other creatures in the hydrothermal vents. They suspected that the creatures colonized the vents from inside the Earth’s crust.
Hydrothermal vents typically form in volcanically active areas when water seeping through cracks in the seafloor meets magma and erupts into boiling hot fluid that is rich with minerals. The fluid attracts animals that depend on microbes to convert minerals into energy.
However, the process of how these ecosystems sustain themselves over multiple generations, particularly how these vent communities utilize larvae, is unclear.
jkraft5- stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only – pictured above is a view from Bartolome Island, one of the youngest islands of the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador
“Rapid colonization by these animals suggests efficient larval dispersal, with larvae assumed to be transported through bottom, ridge, and ocean currents before they settle at vents through downward swimming or sinking,” wrote the researchers.
Yet, scientists have never seen the larvae around the hydrothermal vents, so there must be another dispersal method.
The researchers propose that larvae get sucked into the ocean crust with seawater and travel through the sub-seafloor before arriving at the vents.
To determine if this could be the case, the research team deployed a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to a vent site at a depth of 8,250 feet.
The ROV was used to drill holes in the ocean floor and lift rock slabs to reveal fluid-filled cavities beneath the hydrothermal vents.
The team discovered that the cavities were inhabited by adult tube worms with reproductive parts, suggesting that reproduction may occur underneath the seafloor.
There were also worms living in the cracks that led from the cavities to the surface of the seafloor.
The findings indicate that larvae may enter the sub-seafloor through cracks. Most of them eventually make their way back out, but the presence of adult tube worms in the cavities shows that some larvae live within the ocean crust permanently.
The study was published in Nature Communications.
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