Tubeworms, snails and other weird creatures found under the seafloor

NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists for the primary time have uncovered an underworld of animal life thriving beneath the seafloor.

An expedition to a volcanically energetic ridge within the Pacific off South America has revealed worms, snails, big tubeworms and different unfamiliar beings lurking under steamy underwater sizzling springs.

Researchers have lengthy studied animal communities close to such hydrothermal vents. Many thought solely microbes and viruses may survive beneath. To their shock, an underwater robotic final summer time overturned volcanic slabs and located various life below the vents.

“This was completely sudden,” mentioned examine co-author Sabine Gollner with the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Analysis.

Younger critters from above the seafloor may very well be touring by way of the vents to settle within the depths, Gollner mentioned.

The analysis revealed Tuesday within the journal Nature Communications.

Future research will assist reveal whether or not colonies of animal life exist under different hydrothermal vents across the globe.

“That is an preliminary discovery that’s actually promising,” mentioned Jason Sylvan, a microbiologist at Texas A&M College who was not concerned with the analysis.

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AP video producer Zara Eldridge contributed to this report from London.

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