Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

seafloor, he described this environment as toxic. He said that any animal
living in this environment has to be a specialist. Dr. Juniper said that
hydrogen sulphide and other substances that for many other species of
animals would be toxic is actually the source of energy for many of these
specialist animals. He said that microbes that are found in this environment
use a process called chemosynthesis to take the chemicals, transform them,
derive energy for their metabolism from them, and use this energy to turn
carbon dioxide into sugar. He said that the sugar that is produced is the food
for the rest of the food chain.
He described the situation at vent sites as unusual, with many bacteria
living inside the tissues of animals. He said that the bacteria are not just
growing on the seafloor and being gobbled up, but that to make the system
even more productive they are living in symbiosis within the tissues of some
of these very specialized animals that exist only in hydrothermal vent
environments.
To illustrate the high degree of evolution that has gone into creating
the symbiosis, Dr. Juniper used the example of the giant tubeworm that is
found on the east Pacific Rise all the way from the gulf of Northern California
all the way to near Easter Island in the South Pacific.
Dr. Juniper described the discovery as interesting because there has
never been anything found like it in the entire history of biology. He said the
discovery has been classified as one of the major biological findings of the 20 th
century.
He pointed out that there are also many animals found at
hydrothermal vent sites that do not have bacteria living in their tissue. He
said that these animals live off free-living bacteria. He also said that freeliving
bacteria grow on animal surfaces and on water surfaces, being born out
in the hydrothermal fluid. He showed participants some white material that
he said came out from below the seafloor in the vents. He described this
material as bacterial particles, individual cells that have come together. He
showed participants a slide of a large field of tubeworms including two giant
spider crabs that he said lived off the site. Dr. Juniper said that samples taken
from this area usually consist of clumps of intertwined tubeworms held
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 299