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These deep-sea species are found and are endemic at hydrothermal vents. Their limpet-shaped shell consist of non-nacreous aragonite. The thick periostracum covers the shell edge. The apex is posterior, in some species projecting posteriorly, and deflected to the right. The shell has no sculpture or it consists of beads or imbricate radial ribs.
Alvinella pompejana, the Pompeii worm, is a species of deep-sea polychaete worm (commonly referred to as "bristle worms"). It is an extremophile found only at hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean , discovered in the early 1980s off the Galápagos Islands by French marine biologists .
Bathymodiolus thermophilus is found clustered around deep sea thermal vents on the East Pacific Rise between 13°N and 22°S and in the nearby Galapagos Rift at depths around 2800 metres (one and a half miles). [4] [5] Deep sea hydrothermal vents are frequently found along tectonic plate boundaries, and underwater mountain ranges and ridges.
A black smoker or deep-sea vent is a type of hydrothermal vent found on the seabed, typically in the bathyal zone (with largest frequency in depths from 2,500 to 3,000 m (8,200 to 9,800 ft)), but also in lesser depths as well as deeper in the abyssal zone. [1]
Life flourishes around the vents - including giant tubeworms reaching lengths of 10 feet (3 meters), mussels, crabs, shrimp, fish and other organisms beautifully adapted to this extreme environment.
The evidence suggests that deep-sea hydrothermal vent viral evolutionary strategies promote prolonged host integration, favoring a form of mutualism rather than classic parasitism. [32] As hydrothermal vents outlets [clarification needed] for sub-seafloor material, there is also likely a connection between vent viruses and those in the crust. [39]
Kiwa is a genus of marine decapods living at deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. The animals are commonly referred to as "yeti lobsters" or "yeti crabs”, after the legendary yeti, because of their "hairy" or bristly appearance. [1] The genus is placed in its own family, Kiwaidae, in the superfamily Chirostyloidea. [2]
Thermococcus litoralis (T. litoralis) is a species of Archaea that is found around deep-sea hydrothermal vents as well as shallow submarine thermal springs and oil wells. [2] [3] [4] It is an anaerobic organotroph hyperthermophile that is between 0.5–3.0 μm (20–118 μin) in diameter. [2]