(WJW) – Scientists discovered something unexpected near an underwater volcano — a whole new ecosystem of tiny critters was thriving beneath the hydrothermal vents.
According to the U.S. National Ocean Service, hydrothermal vents are hot springs that form when seawater meets magma from underwater volcanoes.
The water in these hydrothermal vents can reach temperatures as high as 700 degrees, NOAA says.
Scientists have known for years that some organisms that survive in extreme conditions can be found near these vents, but just recently they uncovered something just as surprising underneath.
A large cluster of tubeworms at Fava Flow Suburbs, a site on the East Pacific Rise 2,500 meters deep. Courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute. 
A rock crust sample, upside down, reveals Oasisia and Riftia tubeworms, as well as other organisms. This is a strong argument in favor of Monika Bright’s and Sabine Gollner’s theory of species dispersal through cracks in the Earth’s crust. Courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute. 
A vulcanoctopus (a small benthic octopus endemic to hydrothermal vents) is seen near muscles and tubeworms near Tica Vent on the East Pacific Rise 2,500 meters deep. Courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute. 
In the Control Room of Research Vessel Falkor (too), Monika Bright and Andre Luiz de Oliveira document essential moments of their deep-sea experiments and observations. 2500 meters below them, Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) SuBastian overturned a piece of the Earth’s crust, showing multiple young tubeworms, providing proof of the researchers’ idea that animals may disperse using cracks underground in the seafloor. Courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute. 
An eelpout swims by a tower of tubeworms at the Tica Vent, a site on the East Pacific Rise 2,500 meters deep. Courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute. 
Monika Bright studies a sample of the seafloor, showing several specimens of tubeworm tied around stalactites. This sample is believed to confirm Bright and Gollner’s theory that another step of animal dispersion is through the Earth’s crust. Courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute.
While studying an undersea volcano on the East Pacific Rise off Central America, researchers with the Schmidt Ocean Institute used a robot to go down and turn over crust on the volcanic sea floor.
Underneath the hot springs, they found tunnel systems filled with worms, snails and bacteria living in waters around 75 degrees.
They also found proof that tubeworms colonize beneath the sea floor by traveling through vent fluid. It’s something that Dr. Monika Bright suspected since very few young tubeworms have been seen around the vents.
She says the discovery is a big break-through in understanding deep-sea animal life.
“Two dynamic vent habitats exist. Vent animals above and below the surface thrive together in unison, depending on vent fluid from below and oxygen in the seawater from above,” said Dr. Bright, who led the international expedition.
Scientists will spend the upcoming months studying what they found.
Read more about the Schmidt Ocean Institute here.
