| Thermarces cerberus | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Scorpaeniformes |
| Family: | Zoarcidae |
| Genus: | Thermarces |
| Species: | T. cerberus |
| Binomial name | |
| Thermarces cerberus | |
Thermarces cerberus is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Zoarcidae. This fish, commonly known as the pink vent fish, is associated with hydrothermal vents and cold seeps at bathypelagic depths in the East Pacific.
Thermarces cerberus is found at great depths on the East Pacific Rise and the Galapagos Rift in the eastern Pacific Ocean. [2]
One of the places where Thermarces cerberus has been found is in the vicinity of subterranean vents on the Alarcón Rise, near the mouth of the Gulf of California at depths of about 2,300 metres (7,500 ft). Here there are active and inactive "chimneys" in close proximity to long fissures in the seabed. The most vigorous active chimneys emit mineral-rich fluids at over 300 °C (572 °F) known as "black smoke" while less active chimneys emit "white smoke". The active chimneys are covered in mats of bacteria and tufts of giant tube worms (Riftia pachyptila). Growing on the tube worms, some of which are 1.5 metres (5 ft) tall, are numerous limpets. Moving about among the worms are the crab Bythograea thermydron , crabs in the family Galatheidae and the pink vent fish. [3]
At vents on the East Pacific Rise, the pink vent fish feeds primarily on such molluscs as the limpet Lepetodrilus elevatus and amphipods such as Ventiella sulfuris . Other organisms eaten include the amphipod Halice hesmonectes and the gastropod Cyathermia naticoides . In this location the pink vent fish preferentially takes large limpets, and the removal of these is likely to have a significant effect on biodiversity, enabling other organisms such as the larvae of tube worms to settle, a thing they are normally prevented from doing by the limpets. [4] It has been suggested that vent communities represent relict populations and that the organisms found around vents are more closely related to those at other vent systems than they are to the creatures of the surrounding deep sea floor. Vent fauna need good dispersal characteristics so as to be able to colonise newly formed vent systems. [5]
Siboglinidae is a family of polychaete annelid worms whose members made up the former phyla Pogonophora and Vestimentifera. The family is composed of about 100 species of vermiform creatures which live in thin tubes buried in sediments (Pogonophora) or in tubes attached to hard substratum (Vestimentifera) at ocean depths ranging from 100 to 10,000 m. They can also be found in association with hydrothermal vents, methane seeps, sunken plant material, and whale carcasses.
A hydrothermal vent is a fissure on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspots. Hydrothermal deposits are rocks and mineral ore deposits formed by the action of hydrothermal vents.
Riftia pachyptila, commonly known as the giant tube worm and less commonly known as the Giant beardworm, is a marine invertebrate in the phylum Annelida related to tube worms commonly found in the intertidal and pelagic zones. R. pachyptila lives on the floor of the Pacific Ocean near hydrothermal vents, the vents provide a natural ambient temperature in their environment ranging from 2 to 30 °C, at the same time it can tolerate extremely high hydrogen sulfide levels. These worms can reach a length of 3 m, and their tubular bodies have a diameter of 4 cm (1.6 in).
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Paralvinella sulfincola, also known as the sulfide worm, is a species of polychaete worm of the Alvinellidae family that thrives on undersea hot-water vents. It dwells within tubes in waters surrounding hydrothermal vents, in close proximity to super-heated fluids reaching over 300 °C (572 °F). The upper thermal limit for this polychaete is unknown; however, it is unlikely they can survive in constant temperatures over 50 °C (122 °F). It may tentatively be named a metazoan extremophile or, more specifically, a thermophile.
The Bythograeidae are a small family of blind crabs which live around hydrothermal vents. The family contains 16 species in six genera. Their relationships to other crabs are unclear. They are believed to eat bacteria and other vent organisms. Bythograeidae are a monophyletic, sister taxon of the superfamily Xanthoidea which split to inhabit hydrothermal vents around the Eocene.
The Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents are a group of hydrothermal vents in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean, located 260 kilometres (160 mi) southwest of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The vent field lies 2,250 metres (7,380 ft) below sea level on the northern Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. In 1982, dredged sulfide samples were recovered from the area covered in small tube worms and prompted a return to the vent field in August 1984, where the active vent field was confirmed by HOV Alvin on leg 10 of cruise AII-112.
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The term deep sea creature refers to animals that live below the photic zone of the ocean. These creatures must survive in extremely harsh conditions, such as hundreds of bars of pressure, small amounts of oxygen, very little food, no sunlight, and constant, extreme cold. Most creatures have to depend on food floating down from above.
The oceanic zone is typically defined as the area of the ocean lying beyond the continental shelf, but operationally is often referred to as beginning where the water depths drop to below 200 meters, seaward from the coast into the open ocean with its Pelagic zone.
A methane chimney or gas chimney is a rising column of natural gas, mainly methane within a water or sediment column. The contrast in physical properties between the gas phase and the surrounding water makes such chimneys visible in oceanographic and geophysical data. In some cases, gas bubbles released at the seafloor may dissolve before they reach the ocean surface, but the increased hydrocarbon concentration may still be measured by chemical oceanographic techniques.
Lucernaria janetae is an exceptionally large stalked jellyfish discovered on deep-sea hydrothermal vents on the East Pacific Rise in 2003 and described in 2005.
Thermarces is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Zoarcidae, the eelpouts. They are associated with hydrothermal vents and cold seeps at bathypelagic depths in the East Pacific and West Atlantic Ocean.
Ocean Networks Canada is a University of Victoria initiative that operates the NEPTUNE and VENUS cabled ocean observatories in the northeast Pacific Ocean and the Salish Sea. Additionally, Ocean Networks Canada operates smaller community-based observatories offshore from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut., Campbell River, Kitamaat Village and Digby Island. These observatories collect data on physical, chemical, biological, and geological aspects of the ocean over long time periods. As with other ocean observatories such as ESONET, Ocean Observatories Initiative, MACHO and DONET, scientific instruments connected to Ocean Networks Canada are operated remotely and provide continuous streams of freely available data to researchers and the public. Over 200 gigabytes of data are collected every day.
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The RISE Project was a 1979 international marine research project which mapped and investigated seafloor spreading in the Pacific Ocean, at the crest of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 21° north latitude. Using a deep sea submersible (ALVIN) to search for hydrothermal activity at depths around 2600 meters, the project discovered a series of vents emitting dark mineral particles at extremely high temperatures which gave rise to the popular name, "black smokers". Biologic communities found at 21° N vents, based on chemosynthesis and similar to those found at the Galapagos spreading center, established that these communities are not unique. Discovery of a deep-sea ecosystem not based on sunlight spurred theories of the origin of life on Earth.
The Von Damm Hydrothermal Field is a field of hydrothermal vents located just south of Grand Cayman in the Caribbean, on the Mid-Cayman Rise in the Cayman Trough. It is approximately 24 kilometres (15 mi) south of the Beebe Vent Field. The vent field is named in commemoration of geochemical oceanographer Karen Von Damm, who died in 2008.
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Rachel Haymon is a marine geologist known for her work linking geological and biological processes occurring at deep-sea hydrothermal vents. In 2005 she was elected a fellow of the Geological Society of America.