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Deep Sea Animals (Received from Dan in Pennsylvania)

Q. For extra credit I was asked to research the new organism that was discovered on the bottom of the ocean that is supposedly using this sulfur as it's food. I am very shady on the subject and would greatly appreciate it if you could give me some info or some references...

A. This is quite a complex subject and since I didn't,t know how old you were, I started with some basics. I hope this helps with your research.

The animals you have been asked to research live in a very unique environment - the deep sea floor around hydrothermal vents (also called hot vents). At hydrothermal vents water bubbles out of the molten hot center of the Earth at incredible temperatures (as high as 350C!). This superheated water has many substances dissolved in it including hydrogen sulfide, metallic sulfides and other minerals. As this hot water hits the cold ocean water many of the minerals
precipitate out of solution making incredible chimneys (called black smokers).

Now, back to your animals. As you know all living things require energy. The ultimate source of energy is the sun. Plants use this energy to create organic compounds (sugars, fats, amino acids) and in turn are eaten by animals and so on along the food chain. How then, is it possible, to find incredibly dense communities of animals living deep in the ocean, far from any source of light (and therefore, no plant life)? Part of this mystery was solved when researchers began
to study large tube worms that lived at the vents. Amazingly these creatures had neither a mouth or a gut! What researchers found was that living inside the tissues of this worm, and also in mats all around hot vents, are special bacteria that are able to harvest energy from the chemicals"specifically sulfides"that are released in the hot vents. These bacteria perform the energy-harvesting step that all animals need. Instead of plants harvesting the sun,s energy as in most food chains (called photosynthesis), the bacteria harvest energy from the chemicals in a process called chemolithoautotrophy (self-feeding, based on mineral chemicals) or more simply,, chemosynthesis. Simply put, the bacteria convert the chemicals in the seawater into
food for the worm. Instead of a food chain based on the sun,s energy, this is a food chain driven by chemical energy"no plants are required.

Some animals living around hot vents eat the bacteria directly while others, such as tube worms and giant clams, house the bacteria inside their tissues. Still other animals eat those animals that live off of the bacteria. Animals found around hot vents include limpets, snails, sea spiders, crabs, shrimps, squat lobsters and even mites.

Answered by Adrienne Mason

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Ocean life at different depths - Received from Melody in Minnesota

Q: I am doing a project for school. The assignment says, "Take a trip to the oceans depth. Show the plant and animal life at each level". I have looked everywhere, and I can't find any information on the different levels of the ocean and what lives there. Can you please help me?

Ocean plant life -Received from Jennifer

Q: What kinds of plants are at each level of the ocean?

A. In a very general sense, you can divide the ocean into three zones. The zones, and the animals that live there, vary depending on the amount of light that penetrates. It is very difficult to give exact depths since the clarity of water, and therefore the depth to which light will
penetrate varies throughout the world,s oceans. Temperate and pressure also vary with depth of course.

The first zone is called the sunlit zone. This is the depth to which sunlight penetrates. Most ocean life that we know of live in this zone. Since this is the zone where there is light, this is also where all of the marine plants, including phytoplankton, grow.

In the next zone, the midwater or twilight zone, light is very faint and undetectable to our eyes. This is the largest ecosystem on Earth and ranges from about 200 m below the surface to 50 m above the ocean floor. Here light levels are generally too low to support photosynthesis. Many of the animals that live in this zone swim upwards in the evening to feed in the waters of the lower sunlit zone and move into deeper waters during the day. Food becomes more
scarce with increasing depth and the abundance and diversity of animals inhabiting the depths decreases accordingly. Animals in this zone are dependent, directly or indirectly, upon food sources drifting down from the productive, shallow sunlit zone.

Food sources for animals in this zone and the deep sea zone include: carcasses, marine snow (small particles of organic origin such as moults, feces, etc.), plant detritus and other animals. Many animals in the twilight and deep sea zones produce their own light. This is called bioluminescence. There have been some questions on the Ocean Link site regarding this phenomenon that you may want to refer to.

No light at all penetrates into the deep-sea zone. In the deep sea zone, the environmental conditions are more stable than in any other ecosystem on earth. There is no light, intense water pressure, constant salinity and consistently low oxygen and temperature. Animals that inhabit this zone show some unique features:

- most fish are very small. Many have huge jaws and expandable stomachs for hanging onto scarce food items, even those that are two or three times their body size
- animals don,t waste energy searching for food"most are "lurk and pounce" predators
- swim bladders in fish are absent or regressed, and most fish have poorly ossified skeletons, no scales, high levels of water and lipids and low levels of protein in their tissues, all of which help increase their buoyancy
- bioluminescence exists but it is less common that in the twilight zone; many creatures are blind and may use smell for communication

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Deep Sea Plants - Received from Caitlin in the United States

Q: Does the DEEP SEA zone have any plants?

A: The deep sea is too deep for light to penetrate that plants need to make their food. Plants get their energy from sunlight and through a process called photosynthesis, turn this sunlight into food for the plant. Since there is not any usable light available for plants to photosynthesize in the deep sea plants cannot live there.

There are bacteria that can live as deep as 1500m to 3200m near deep sea hot vents. These bacteria use a compound called hydrogen sulfide, instead of sunlight, to make their food. The bacteria get the hydrogen sulfide from deep sea hot water geysers that release this compound. In fact, because of these tiny bacteria an entire community of animals can survive and thrive in these hot vent areas!

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Life Zones in the Ocean - Received from Sara in Little Rock AK

Q: I have a science project due in a week and have chosen life zones of the ocean. I plan to use an aquarium for the model and am looking for ideas on materials to use for the
different layers. Gelatin may be too heavy. Any ideas would be great and also can you suggest some articles for research. Thank you.

A. To learn more about life zones read the answer to the question Ocean life at different depths. I would suggest using blue cellophane on the back side of your aquarium to show the twilight zone and then black construction paper to show the deep sea zone. You may want to paint some of the creatures you use in your model with glow-in-the-dark paint to show how animals communicate in the sea where there is little or no light. As far as a reference, it is
difficult to give you just one reference to use. You might try to find a general textbook on marine biology, most good books with discuss life zones in the sea. Good luck with your project.

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Deepest part of the ocean - Received from Steve in Suffolk, Virginia.

Q: Could you please tell me where the deepest part of the ocean is located?

A: The deepest part of the ocean is believed to be the Mariana Trench, located southeast of Japan. This trench reaches a depth of 11035 m (36204 ft), which can be compared to the height of Mount Everest at 8848 m (29028 ft).

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Mid Ocean Rift - Received from Arial in ???

Q: What do scientists believe about the rift in the Mid-Ocean Ridge

A. We're not sure what you mean by what scientists "believe" about the rift, but we'll try to tell you what is know. The ridge system in the world's oceans is a series of great continuous underwater volcanic mountain ranges that stretch for 65,000 km around the world, running
through every major ocean. If you look at a map of the world ocean floor, you'll clearly see this ridge system. The ridges are caused by the movement of the Earth's crust due to continental drift. As the continental plates drift, there are spreading zones where the crust is "pulling apart". These zones are areas of intense volcanic activity, which creates the mountain systems. In the center of each ridge is a rift zone or rift valley. For example, Africa and South America are slowly moving apart. The crust is breaking and spreading in the area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. In the middle of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a rift valley, where the spreading is taking place. This rift valley is the site of many hydrothermal vents (see the OceanLink answers on this topic). The rift valley of the Mid Atlantic Ridge was first seen by people in 1973, when the submersible Archimede travelled to the site. In 1974, the submersible Alvin joined the study.

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Exploring the Deep Ocean - Received from Mike, Grace, Kendra, Leann Chris, Thomas and Kenny in North Carolina

Q: What are some better ways we can explore the deep ocean?

Deep Sea Technology - Received Dec 5 from Michael in Missouri

Q: Do you know of any new technology that enable people to go into very deep parts of the ocean , like new alloys or metals?

A. We are unaware of any new alloys that have been developed specifically for deep sea exploration, although submersible manufacturers have doubtless benefited from new technologies developed for the space program There are over 60 companies in British Columbia that work in the marine robotics and subsea vehicle industry. They create innovative and specialized equipment for worldwide distribution such as:

The Newtsuit, a light weight. one atmosphere diving suit that allows dives too descend alone to depths of up to 300 meters (1000 feet). This revolutionary suit which is like a form-fitting submarine, has unique rotary joints that give the diver close to a full range of motion. It is made by International Hard Suits Ltd.

The Dolphin (Deep Ocean Logging Profiler Hydrographic Instrumentation and Navigation) is an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). It is not cabled to a tender ship, and is totally independent. It is radio-controlled, and has a microprocessor on board that acts like the captain, navigator and engineer. The AUV gathers information and is very useful for mapping of the deep oceans. It is made by International Submarine Engineering Ltd. Pictures of the
Dolphin and other deep sea exploration vehicles may be seen at the ISE web site . Also check out the Submersible Links web site for information on new technology.

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Submarines - Received from Lauren.

Q: How deep can submarines operate safely?

A: The deepest recorded dive of a manned submersible was made by the French Bathyscape Trieste. This vehicle was in operation over 40 years ago and made the deepest dives of all time, to a record depth of 10912 m (35802 ft). In 1989, the Sinkai 6500 submersible made a dive to 6527 m (21414 ft), attaining the greatest depth of any manned submersible currently in service. One of the more commonly used underwater research vessels, DSV Alvin, has an operating depth of 4000 m (13124 ft).

To learn more about these vehicles and the deep sea, check out the Smithsonian Ocean Planet webpage "How Deep Can They Go?".

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Deep Water Adaptations -received from Andrea in Florida

Q: What adaptations must creatures living below 700 feet of water have to survive?

A: I thought that this was a great question, I had fun researching it. The interesting thing about the ocean below 700 feet is that there is virtually no light that can penetrate to such depths. Without light, algae and other plants can't produce energy. This is a problem to the rest of the organisms because plants are generally at the bottom of the food chain. Food is therefore not as readily available as it is in other ecosystems. So, to answer your question more directly, almost all of the animals at this depth are predatory, and must get food when they can. Much of the food comes from more shallow lighted depths, and simply filters down into the deeper reaches.
As you might imagine, the competition for food is huge! Animals do not live in large groups, because there isn't enough food to support them all. Again, this poses a problem for them, because they don't see each other often enough to find mates, and if they did, it's still too dark to see! One way that scientists think that deep sea organisms get around this is by producing their own light, called bioluminescence. Basically, this means that they use stored energy to produce a chemical that makes them glow in the dark.
It's not easy being deep!

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Deep Sea Creature Pressure Adaptations

Q: How have sea creatures adapted to withstand the extreme pressures found at the ocean depths?

A: Deep sea creatures have a variety of ways that they can adapt to pressure. Most of the deep sea fish species do not have swim bladders like the fish that live in shallower seas. Swim bladders allow for a fish to maintain a certain depth in the water column. Other adaptations include a lower metabolism (possibly to keep warmer as the deep sea can be as cold as minus 1 degree celcius or about 28-30 farenheit), lower ability to produce eggs for birthing (again likely for conserving energy), sometimes less total weight per organism, higher percentage of water as total weight of the organisn and less skeletal mass. Many of these adaptations are likely the result of less food on the ocean floor hence the lower metabolic rates. Unofrtunately because of the extreme cost in examining the deep ocean floor very little is actually known about many of the deep sea species.
Thanks for the great question.

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Deep Ocean Bacteria

Q:I would like to know what the deep sea bacteria are and some of the roles that they play in the oceans?

A: Deep sea bacteria plays a very large role in the worlds oceans. Basically in the deep ocean where sunlight does not reach bacteria can sometimes become the primary energy producers in the food chain like plants on the earths surface. In the deep ocean there is no photosynthesis but instead something called chemosynthesis (fixation of energy without sunlight).
The example I will use is bacteria energy fixation at deep sea hydrothermal vents. At the deep sea hydrothermal vents there is an ample supply of hydrogen sulphide (normally fatal to life) that the bacteria turn into usable energy. Once the bacteria do this they become the basis for life at the hydrothermal vents. All of the other life forms at the vents (tube worms, vent clams and so forth) are dependent on the bacteria. Without the bacteria there would be no life possible at the hydrothermal vents.
Its possible that bacteria were the first life-forms that existed on Earth before Earth had much oxygen.
This webpage will give you some further information about hydrothermal vents.

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HYDROTHERMAL VENTS

Hydrothermal Vent Animals - Received from Jesse in Connecticut

Q: I am interested in information concerning the tube worms and other organisms that live around hydrothermal vents.

A. In 1977, scientists in the submersible ALVIN found hot water coming from springs on the deep ocean floor. Around these springs were a collection of fascinating animals, most of which had never been seen before. Huge tube worms, clams, shrimp, and other animals were seen in large numbers, all living around the hot water issuing from the springs in the ocean floor. Since then, hydrothermal vents have been discovered all over the world, including an area just west of Vancouver Island, B.C. Many hundreds of animals, most of them unique to hydrothermal vent areas, have been described. An interesting adaptation of many of the hydrothermal vent animals is the lack of a stomach! The animals live on sulfur bacteria, which themselves get their energy from the abundant sulfur-rich compound that spew from the vents. Many books and scientific papers have been written on hydrothermal vents and the animals that live around them. Since you are should have access to a university/college library, you could start off with:

Tunnicliffe, Verena, 1991. The biology of hydrothermal vents: Ecology and evolution. Oceanography and Marine Biology Annual Review 29: 319-407.

Grassle, J F. 1991. Deep Sea benthic biodiversity. BioScience 41:464-469.

Grassle, J.F. 1986. The ecology of deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities. Advances in Marine Biology 23:301-362

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Hydrothermal Worms - Received from Chris in Cambridge.

Q: what is the difference between the pogonophores and the vestimentiferans?

A: Pogonophorans and vestimeniferans are very closely related organisms. Or are they? Both are worms that live by hydrothermal vents and are deep sea animals. Both have no mouth, stomach, or intestine, but absorb nutrients right out of the water. They also have symbiotic bacteria that give them energy in return for a place to live. Pogonophorans are quite small, being around 1mm in diameter and
having up to 200 feathery attachments on their foreparts. Vestimeniferans are much bigger, being 40mm in diameter, up to 1.5m tall and having up to 200,000 tentacles. They tend to have tubes that stick up out of the substrate, while pogos normally have their tubes buried.

There has been some controversy about these two organisms though. Vestimentifera and Pogonophora are two distinct phyla, and have been since 1985. Jones (1985 - Biol. Bull. Soc. Wash. 6:117-158) split the groups into two phyla based on some very important morphological differences, as well as major developmental (embryonic) differences. Recent work has shown that the pogonophora, vestimentifera and annelida derived from a common ancestor, but pogonophora is most related to vestimentifera (Zool Sci 9:(6) 1301). Knowing taxonomists however, this will likely change in the next few years. Hydrothermal vent biology is a pretty recent thing, after all.

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Hydrothermal vent animals (received from Kathy in California)

Question: I am having trouble finding the scientific names for animals found in the hydrothermal vent zone. Could you please help me find the resources.

There are many different kinds of hydrothermal vent animals (as you have probably found out!) The best way to find out some scientific names would be to read some of the literature that has been published on them. For a start, you could try the following:

Tunnicliffe, Verena, 1991. The biology of hydrothermal vents: Ecology and evolution. Oceanography and Marine Biology Annual Review 29: 319-407.

Grassle, J F. 1991. Deep Sea benthic biodiversity. BioScience 41:464-469.

Grassle, J.F. 1986. The ecology of deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities. Advances in Marine Biology 23:301-362.

Also, here are some names of just a few animals to get you started:

Riftia pacifica: A worm in the phylum Vestimentifera

Dahlella caldariensis: A crustacean found near vents of the Galapagos and East Pacific Rise

Saxipendium coronatum: Also found in near the Galapagos - sometimes called the "spaghetti worm"

Alvinella pompejana: An Annelid worm, sometimes called the Pompeii worm. It is named after the submersible "Alvin".

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Deep Sea bacteria - received from Shannon in Sydney, Australia.

Q: Hi (: I am doing a project on bacteria and I am interested to find more out about Deep Sea bacteria. In particular - advances in technology that has helped in the research, characteristics that enable them to survive in the environment, and the roles the organism plays in its environment.
Thanks for your help!

A: That's a great idea for a project! It is a up and coming area of marine research! Benthic life in the deep sea are part of chemosynthetic communities that are centered around hydrothermal vents. The chemosynthetic bacteria that thrives in these harsh environments are the base of deep sea trophic systems. Because there is no light, there is no photosynthesis, so bacteria use hydrogen sulfide to produce energy. The bacteria oxidizes these sulfides and are able to fix carbon from carbon dioxide into organic sugars to use as energy sources. In this way, they support a thriving community of worms, molluscs, crabs, etc. There is tons of info of hot vent communities on the net: The Smithsonian's Ocean Planet webpage is great place to start because it great links to all kinds of related info:

For info about about technology check out this site!

Good luck!

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Hydrothermal Vent Animals

Q: I am looking for information regarding hydrothermal vents and animal pictures (excluding bacteria and tube worms).

A: Oceanlink has a page devoted to hydrothermal vents check it out! Not long ago I stumbled onto an excellent website from an ongoing hot vents exploration study in the United States. It has picture of vents animals, current research studies and all kinds of good stuff. Here is the New Millennium Observatory website.
The animal pictures are really cool!

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