“Life Finds in Way“said Ian Malcolm in the film Jurassic Park, “Life always finds a solution“. It does not matter how extreme the conditions of an environment are, something that survives is found (almost) always.
An awareness also valid in the scientific field that has not in any way ruined the surprise to the team of the institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering in Sanya, in China: the group of researchers has just discovered the deepest complex ecosystem in the world.
It is located in the fossa delle Aleutine, more than 9 km deep, and is a community of different species that also survive in total absence of sunlight. Their discoveries are documented in a study published on Nature Together with the images that below they tell some moments of the research.
A dip where the water is (very) deep. The objective of the underwater expedition was to explore the waters of the fossa of the Aleutine and the curiles, among the deepest in the world, looking for life.
In fact, we know that under a certain depth the sunlight stops penetrating, but also that there are living species that have found other methods to produce energy and thrive in the abysses. So far, however, we had encountered these communities (for example those who live near the hydrothermal Vent) with a maximum depths of 7,000 meters or a little more.
The Chinese team, which descended into the abysses using the submarine Fèndòuzh shootthe first product in China to have placed for a crew of three people, made a total of 23 dives divided between the two pits. By filming everything in high definition, he collected samples of sediment and biological material. The data were used to understand which and how many species were present in the environments that were exploring.
Molluscs, worms and … the results of the “dives” are exceptional: Fèndòuzh shoot He has discovered several animal communities that live (and thrive) below 7,000 meters. The deepest was identified at 9,533 meters below sea level, a record for an ecosystem that, however, has shown that it is in excellent health:
populated by gastroopod and oloturopodic molluscs, but also by less known animals such as amphipods and policy worms, is dominated in particular by tubular worms of the family Siboglinidaewhich reach concentrations of almost 6,000 specimens per square meter.
If you are wondering how to make your life to survive these depths, the answer is in bacteria, which produce methane and sulphide acid – compounds that the various worms and molluscs then use as a source of energy.
The process is called Chemosynthesis, and allows these huge biological communities to live even without the need for sunlight.
Dives of Fèndòuzh shoot They documented their presence from 5,800 m deep down. The authors of the study explain that these ecosystems could be much more widespread than we believe: when we talk about drilling in the sea depths, we should take them into account.