Black Smoker

This is a GREAT video about underwater deep ocean vents.

These vents spew out minerals which feed the Archeabacteria that feeds other organisms.

You can see here in the video that there are lots of crabs and bigger animals all based on the vents.

This ecosystem is the only one that does not rely on sunlight. If the sun winked out tomorrow this would be the only life left on the planet.

( True deep water ecosystems depend on dead fish falling from above and fish swimming up to shallower areas to feed at night. In any case, the deep water ecosystems are not nearly as high in biomass as these vents are. However, the area that these vents affects is somewhat localized to the vents)

Some scientists think that it is POSSIBLE that life may have started in this type of environment.


In any case, enjoy one of the bigger scientific discoveries in the last century.