Deep-Sea Creatures Captured Alive And Studied

techmaven writes: "A recent article on the NewsFactor network, 'Scientists Bring 'Em Back Alive from Ocean Depths,' reports that scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara were able to capture and bring back alive from the bottom of the ocean, several deep-sea creatures rarely seen by humans, much less studied. The creatures may provide answers to how animals can survive in a cold, dark, gaseous environment."

Comments

Re:Very expensive fish tank?

[meiocyte]

>The interesting thing will be whether they are a different evolutionary track, the origin of the evolutionary track we're on, or a different branch of the evolutionary track.

They (if by they you refer to the crabs, mussels, and worms) are merely species of crabs, mussels, and worms that at some time in the past became adapted to living in a different environment. They're no different in this respect from any other species.

The article was a little unclear:
;"Now that we have them here, we are studying their rate of primary production (the rate of
;carbon fixation) in that environment, where there is no sunlight and they survive by
;chemosynthesis," Childress told NewsFactor."

Actually the crabs, mussels, and worms do not directly get their energy from the hydrogen sulfide. That's the job of chemoautotrophic bacteria, who are the real freaks. These bacteria use the H2S as their energy source (this is where the 'primary production' happens); they are in turn the base of the 'food chain' in the vent communities. See a NASA page or a page from U of Georgia for more.