video

Hydrothermal Vent Creatures

Smithsonian Institution

Travel to a world of perpetual night--the deep ocean hydrothermal vents near the Galapagos Rift where life thrives around superheated water spewing from deep inside the Earth. Discovered only in 1977, hydrothermal vents are home to dozens of previously unknown species. Huge red-tipped tube worms, ghostly fish, strange shrimp with eyes on their backs and other unique species thrive in these extreme deep ocean ecosystems found near undersea volcanic chains. How is life possible here? In a process called chemosynthesis, microbes at the base of the foodchain convert chemicals from the vents into usable energy. See closeup footage of hydrothermal vents and species in this clip from the IMAX film "Volcanoes of the Deep."