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Antarctica's hydrothermal vents home to HUGE colonies of yeti crabs

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G

Gaborn

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antarcticdisvoery_620x350.jpeg


(Livescience.com) Scientists doing their first exploring of deep-sea vents in the Antarctic have uncovered a world unlike anything found around other hydrothermal vents, one populated by new species of anemones, predatory sea stars, and piles of hairy-chested yeti crabs.
It was "almost like a sight from another planet," said expedition leader Alex Rogers, a professor of zoology at Oxford University.

Even in the eye-popping world of deep-sea vents, the Antarctic discoveries stand out, with the unfamiliar species of crabs found crowded in piles around the warm waters emanating from the seafloor. Many of the animals found at the vents have never been found at hydrothermal vents in other oceans, Rogers said. "To see these animals in such huge densities was just amazing," Rogers told LiveScience.

In the dayless world of deep-sea vents, energy comes not from the sun but from the hydrothermal energy generated in the oceanic crust.

The yeti crabs seem to cultivate "gardens" of bacteria on their chests, which are covered with hairy tendrils. These bacterial mats almost certainly provides the crabs with sustenance, Rogers said. In turn, predatory seven-armed sea stars stalk the periphery of the vents, snacking on unfortunate crabs. [See video and photos from the vents]

"We were absolutely stunned to see the animal communities, because they were so different from the hydrothermal vents seen elsewhere," Rogers told LiveScience. He and his colleagues reported their results Jan. 3 in the journal PLoS Biology.

Discovery in the deep sea

Weird life flourishes at deep-sea vents the world over, but no one had ever found hydrothermal vents in Antarctica, explained Jon Copley, a professor of earth and ocean science at the University of Southampton who also participated in the research. That's largely because it's more difficult to do research in the harsh Southern Ocean than in temperate climes. [Extremophiles: World's Weirdest Life]

"It's only quite recently that we've been able to be bold enough, really, to head to the poles," Copley told LiveScience.

In 1999, Antarctic mapping surveys turned up hints of hydrothermal vent output in the water column over the East Scotia Ridge in the Atlantic section of the Southern Ocean, between Antarctica and South America and eastward. It took 10 years for researchers to get back for a full-blown expedition, during which they lowered cameras to two areas, 8,530 feet (2,600 meters) and 7,874 feet (2,400 m) deep, catching the first glimpses of Antarctic hydrothermal vents. Among them were "black smokers," chimney-like vents that emit dark-hued, superheated water.

Although the background temperature of the Southern Ocean in the area is 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius), the black smokers gushed water as hot as 721 degrees F (382 degrees C).

In 2010, the researchers returned with a remote-operated submersible vehicle (ROV) called Isis. The sub took close-up photos of the amazing vent fauna and collected samples of organisms for identification.

New world

Among the new species were the yeti crabs, crowded around the vents up to 600 per square meter.

"They're literally, in places, heaped up upon each other," Rogers said. Crabs normally don't tolerate cold temperatures well, so the vents may be a warm haven for these crabs, Copley said.

Unlike vents in other oceans, the Antarctic vents lack tube worms, mussels and shrimp. Instead they harbor new species of barnacles and anemones, as well as a large brown spiral-shelled snail. The researchers even saw ghost-pale octopuses, which seemed drawn to the lights of the ROV.

"We were completely blown away by what we found," Copley said. "I've worked at vents in the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, but these are the lushest, richest vents, in terms of life, that I've come across."

The discovery helps fill a gap in researchers' understanding of how deep-sea life disperses around the oceans, Rogers said. They had expected that the Southern Ocean would be a historical gateway for vent species to travel between the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, and there do seem to be some species, such as the yeti crab, that are related to species found at other vents. Those relationships seem to reach back into geological history, Copley said, when there was a connection between the Antarctic and the eastern Pacific.

But the vast differences between Antarctic vents and vents found elsewhere suggest that the area is not a gateway but a biological region in its own right, Rogers said. The cold Antarctic waters may act as a barrier to species that start their lives as swimming, feeding larvae, he said. On the other hand, larvae that carry their own food supply with them in eggs — known as lecithotrophic larvae — may be able to survive and disperse in the chilly Southern Ocean.

As humans increasingly exploit the deep seas for fish, oil and mining, understanding how species are dispersed is crucial, Copley said.

"Until we understand what governs the patterns of life at deep-sea vents, how interconnected their populations, how well life disperses from vent to vent, we can't make responsible decisions about how to manage these deep-ocean resources."
Click to expand...

Story Here

This is a closer photo of a different species of yeti crab discovered in 2005 to give you some idea what they look like (from this gallery thread a couple years back)

00407291307.jpg
 
K

Kung Fu Jedi

Member
Saw a similar story earlier today on this and was fascinated. I guess Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park had it right. Life really does find a way.
 
S

ShockingAlberto

Member
Huh

So I guess the answer to "How crabs keep from freezing to death in arctic waters" was simply...they stay warm.

Seems like we probably should have figured that out earlier.
 
RubxQub

RubxQub

φίλω ἐξεχέγλουτον καί ψευδολόγον οὖκ εἰπόν
That's totally crazy looking. I hope they aren't delicious because it sounds like you could nab the entire population incredibly easily.
 
T

ToxicAdam

Member
I love how every article on nature has to throw it's political activism jab in at the end. Just tell us about the cool discovery and shut the fuck up.
 
M

Mike M

Nick N
Sea stars that eat CRABS? Fucking HOW? They're slow as hell and are built for eating bivalves.

This is blowing my mind.
 
M

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
ToxicAdam said:
I love how every article on nature has to throw it's political activism jab in at the end. Just tell us about the cool discovery and shut the fuck up.
Click to expand...

How is it "political activism" to mention the reason why the research expedition was even being conducted in the first place?
 
E

Enco

Member
brandonh83 said:
If they think that's crazy, they should swim deeper.
Click to expand...
Fucking this.

The ocean is so fucking immense! The things living in it are out of this world. We should spend way more money trying to explore even more. Easier than going to space.
 
P

Pai Pai Master

Banned
Enco said:
Fucking this.

The ocean is so fucking immense! The things living in it are out of this world. We should spend way more money trying to explore even more. Easier than going to space.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there's so much awesome stuff unexplored in the oceans yet we still insist on trying to find the Na'avi so we can fuck them all.
 
Z

Zzoram

Member
I wonder how toxic they would be to eat. Doesn't all the ocean pollution end up at the poles and concentrate into the local marine life?
 
G

Gaborn

Member
hassellhoff_620x350.jpg


(CBS) "The Hoff" is no longer just the nickname for actor David Hasselhoff -- now it is being used to identify a new species of crab scientist discovered that has a hairy Hasselhoff-like chest on the Southern Ocean floor near Antarctica.

"Their nickname on the cruise ship was the 'Hasselhoff crab,' which gives you some idea of what they look like," said Professor Alex Rogers, who led the research cruise that found the new species, to the BBC.

Since the creature has yet to be formally classified its nickname, "The Hoff," has stuck, but it will be given a formal name soon. While there is still no name for the species, scientists do know that it is a type of yeti crab, reports the BBC.

Yeti crabs are known for their hairs along their claws, which they use to cultivate the bacteria that they in turn eat.

"The Hoff" species were found in piles around hydrothermal vents on the seafloor with long hairs on their abdomen, instead of along their claws.

The finding has been published in this week's edition of the journal PLoS Biology.
Click to expand...

Story Here

Really?
 
L

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
NPR did an interview on friday, they mentioned this name (didn't sound final then), I assumed it was a joke, pretty funny.


Oh wait, it's not final, ok.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Those star fish sound like assholes. Predatory Star Fish eating crabs? Is such a thing even possible?

Also

13707_Antarctic_vents_octopus.jpg


Ghost Octopus is moe~
 
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