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Tubeworms, mussels, and other animals thriving at a hydrothermal vent.

Tubeworms, mussels, and other animals thriving at a hydrothermal vent.
Tubeworms, mussels, and other animals thriving at a hydrothermal vent.
Tubeworms, mussels, and other animals thriving at a hydrothermal vent.
Tubeworms, mussels, and other animals thriving at a hydrothermal vent.
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Tubeworms, mussels, and other animals thriving at a hydrothermal vent.
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01/11/2016
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Image Of the Day caption:
Hydrothermal vents, fissures where minerals dissolved in hot seawater pour out of the seafloor, were discovered in 1977 aboard the submersible Alvin. The amazing variety of organisms that call the vents home survive thanks to chemosynthetic bacteria, which fix carbon using energy from hydrogen sulfide or methane. The discovery of organisms like mussels and tubeworms thriving away from sunlight represented an important step in understanding life on our planet, and raised questions about the origin of life on Earth. The values of vent ecosystemsincluding their role in the global carbon cyclewill hopefully be revealed through further exploration.
Caption from Oceanus magazine, Vol. 51, No. 1, pg. 6:
In the late 1970s, Alvin explored hydrothermal vents harboring unexpected deep-sea life: tubeworms, mussels, and other animals sustained by energy from chemicals from the seafloor, instead of sunlight.
Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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