Harsh Underwater Environments and the Odd Creatures that Live There

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Harsh Underwater Environments and the Odd Creatures that Live There

By Trista - July 12, 2019

13. Construction of Minerals

As minerals are spewed into the cooler sea water, they start to precipitate and solidify. Over time, they come together to form solid structures underneath the ocean that many have never seen before. The same process creates chimneys that are discovered near the vents, but these minerals can also form huge solid pagodas that can be quite large.

Similar to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, it is amazing to think that nature could build these structures all on its own is awe-inspiring. Sadly, the largest coral reef on the planet, which is located off the coast of Queensland, is dying.

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14. Mussels

Mussels clump together around the entry points of the vents, gobbling up the bacteria swirling around in the water. They can also be found in the cracks along the sea floor doing the same thing, as the cracks also let gases seep out when the vents aren’t spewing out material.

They have a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria that live in their gills, which absorb the chemicals from the water and turn them into nutrients. When this isn’t going on, mussels can also filter out food from the water itself to survive.

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15. Clams

No one thinks that clams would be so far down in the ocean, but it’s because of their hard shells that they’re able to survive such temperatures. Like mussels, they also cling to the vents, eating the bacteria that swarm around the hot waters.

How it works is that the bacteria cling to the clam’s gills and then use the chemical in the surrounding water to produce sugars. These sugars are what the clam uses for energy to move around with its single foot.

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16. Dandelions

These aren’t the same as those pesky weeds you find growing in your yard. They’re actually a colony of numerous animals that hold onto each other. These animals are closely related to jellyfish, and they use their long tentacles to anchor themselves to rocks and to move around.

You won’t see dandelions very often around active vents. In fact, they are the last creatures to colonize the vents because they show up when the vents are no longer active, and the surrounding organisms are dying. They’re scavengers, cleaning up the remains of the deceased.

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17. Shrimp

You’re not going to get your hands on these shrimp on your dinner plate any time soon. They’re so far down that it would be too expensive to trawl them back up to the surface. But there are a plethora of them around vents: at least 15 different species, with half of them living in the Atlantic and the other half in the Pacific.

You’ll find shrimp clustered around the black smokers that you find more often in the Atlantic Ocean. They’re also plagued with bacteria that they share a symbiotic relationship with to extract nutrients from the chemicals in the water.

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18. Polychaete Worms

Instead of hydrothermal vents, you’ll find these little guys hanging around underwater volcanoes. Although they look kind of pretty with their pink skin, they’re actually ferocious predators that have jaws similar to the xenomorph in the “Aliens” movie.

There isn’t just one set of polychaete worms. They actually appear in different forms and have variable lifestyles, living in vastly different areas around the planet’s oceans. Some can be parasitic in nature, some can move around and have organs and jaws to catch food, while others are immobile.

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19. Snake Stars

These tiny yellowish snake stars are similar to “elephant” and are usually found wrapped around coral branches. They wave their arms to catch food particulates in the water that they draw towards their mouths.

Snake stars may look very similar to starfish, but they have distinctly different shapes. Their central body disk looks sharply marked off from the rest of the arms. It’s this disk that has all of their internal organs. And instead of the mouth being on top like in starfish, it’s located on the bottom, within one of the many jaw plates.

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20. Cup Corals

These are not the same as the reef-building corals that form huge colonies filling the oceans. Cup corals live very solitary lives. They don’t seem to have a problem with it, protected by their limestone external skeletons that keep them safe from the harsh chemicals of the sea water. They only grow up to about 3.5 inches across, so it would be easy for anyone to miss them.

At night time, it extends bioluminescent tentacles into the water to trap even more food more efficiently. They come in many different varieties, and not all of them live near vents or underwater volcanoes. They mostly stick to frigid waters and can also be found around shipwrecks and chunks of discarded metal.

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21. Crown Jellyfish

This unusual jellyfish is likely part of a genus of jellyfish called Atolla, which can only survive at high depths in the ocean. It has long tentacles that it drags behind itself in order to catch small prey swimming around in the waters. They mostly feed on zooplankton, which are microscopic animals.

Crown jellyfish are capable of bioluminescence and are lit up when they’re touched. Left undisturbed, they’re quite transparent. If they’re attacked, they can use their light to startle and mislead predators as to what’s going on, causing confusion. Otherwise, the light is used to attract prey.

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22. Black Dragonfish

These small fishes look terrifying, but they’re actually pretty little. There are fierce predators when it comes to hunting small fish, but only the females are capable of it. The males actually have no teeth or even functional stomachs, so many scientists believe that their only purpose is for breeding.

Black dragonfish are very sexually dimorphic, with the females being black with stripes and the males being dull brown. The males are also lacking in sharp teeth and pelvic fins, so they don’t swim around a lot. The females are known to migrate to find a mate and to lay their eggs.

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23. Tonguefish

The tonguefish is pretty strange to look at, with its eyes on one side of its head. That’s so that they can move near the seafloor while still keeping an eye on predators. While swimming, they graze on the bacterial mats that are near nutrient flows, absorbing and converting it all into useful nutrients.

Tonguefish are absolutely in love with sulfur and congregate around hydrothermal vents on the seafloor. It’s the only flatfish to actually be found in these areas, so it’s quite a unique species.

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24. Human Waste

Even this far down, scientists are still finding pieces of human garbage on the ocean floor. It’s a demonstration that our influence has been nothing but negative for the planet. There should be no reason we can’t use biodegradable products, recycle more, and simply not throw trash in the ocean.

Who knows what our presence on this planet could do to these creatures that have been alive for millions of years? Sure, they can live in scorching underwater temperatures filled with unique minerals. That doesn’t mean these adaptable creatures can live eating plastic. Hopefully, being aware of our actions as human beings and taking the initiative to be more careful with our disposal of materials can help these aquatic animals to thrive. After all, they are quite majestic!

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