After a 90-minute descent, the Alvin leveled off just above the seafloor, and the men turned on the Alvin’s searchlights. The scientists could be excused for thinking that they were on a different planet. Their lights revealed a number of shimmering warm-water vents on the seafloor, where the water is normally near freezing. Close to the vents, something even stranger appeared—entire communities of previously unknown living creatures. Two years later, researchers aboard the Alvin discovered superheated vents called smokers on the East Pacific Rise off the coast of Mexico. A number of these vents formed ghostly chimneys, some up to 30 feet [9 m] tall. Many of the same animals seen at the Galápagos Rift were found at this location. In the following article, we will take a closer look at these amazing life-forms and the world of mind-boggling extremes that is home to them.

An Oasis—Of Toxins!

Because of its highly unstable and volcanic nature, the globe-encircling mid-ocean ridge system is riddled with lava flows and hydrothermal vents. The vents spew out a toxic, superheated concoction of water and dissolved minerals from inside the earth. Yet, amazingly, this inhospitable realm, which is also under pressures hundreds of times greater than those at sea level, does not repel life but, rather, attracts it—and in abundance! The hundreds of species living there include bacteria, giant clams—perhaps a foot in length—and, strangest of all, thickets of crimson-plumed tube worms anchored firmly to the seafloor and standing up to six feet [1.8 m] tall.

When brought to the surface, vent creatures smell like rotten eggs! The stench comes, not from decay, but from hydrogen sulfide—an offensive-smelling and highly poisonous chemical that is abundant in hydrothermal vents. Vent water is also highly acidic and contains many metals, including copper, magnesium, iron, and zinc. But instead of barely coping in this environment—which has been compared to a toxic-waste site—tube worms and other creatures thrive! How? In order to understand, let us take a closer look at the tube worm.

A Living Enigma

When biologists examined the tube worms, they found the animals to be a living enigma. They had no mouth and no digestive system. The question arose, How did they eat and assimilate food? Then came a startling discovery: The worms had red blood—not a bloodlike fluid but actual blood rich in hemoglobin—circulating through their body and featherlike plume.

The mysteries deepened when biologists opened up the flaccid sac of the tube worm’s body. Its tissues contained a bacterial culture composed of some 285 billion [10 billion] bacteria per ounce [gram] of tissue! In 1980 a biology student theorized that the tube worm lives by means of symbiosis—an arrangement where two species cooperate for mutual benefit. Research confirmed her hypothesis by showing that the tube worm, as host, feeds the bacteria, and the bacteria feed the worm.

Like gills, the plumes of the tube worm gather the ingredients, such as oxygen and carbon, that the bacteria need to manufacture food. The plumes do not wave directly in the searing vent water—that would be suicide—but in the region close to where near-freezing seawater and vent water mix. Of course, this food-manufacturing process requires energy. On the earth’s surface—and in the upper part of the ocean—sunlight energizes food production by causing vegetation to grow. But sunlight comes nowhere near the abyssal home of the tube worm.

Energy From the Belly of the Earth

Ingeniously, the Creator has arranged for the belly of the earth to provide the necessary energy via the hydrothermal vents and that obnoxious-smelling compound hydrogen sulfide. As the “sunlight” of the vent community, hydrogen sulfide provides the energy that the bacteria need to have to go about their food-manufacturing business. Meanwhile, the bacteria are the “plants” of the vent community because they are at the base of the vent food chain.a

In order to bind all the chemicals needed by the bacteria, tube worm blood is composed of hemoglobin molecules that are 30 times larger than hemoglobin molecules in humans. The blood transports these chemicals to the hungry bacteria, and the bacteria, in turn, manufacture food for the tube worm.

Vent Life—A Zoo of Organisms!

Indeed, no vent creature ought to go hungry, for bacteria blanket practically everything—at times up to inches thick! Even in the warm turbulence above the vents, bacteria sometimes congregate in great blizzards, forming, in effect, a living soup. Like tube worms, some animals enjoy a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria, while others graze directly on these microorganisms. Indeed, vent communities are so productive and energetic that they have been compared to salt marshes, tropical rain forests, and shallow-water coral reefs.

In fact, some 300 new species have already been identified near the vents. These include giant white clams and mussels (pigment is superfluous in a world of eternal night), octopuses, and voracious white crabs that relish the delicate plumes of tube worms. For protection, the worms have a snappy reflex that promptly retracts the plume into the safety of the tube.

Other vent creatures include sea spiders, snails, dancing shrimps, limpets, copepods, eellike fish that slither about on the bacteria- and sulfur-laden surfaces, smaller species of tube worms, and other worms. The latter include spaghetti worms and Pompeii worms. Appropriately named, spaghetti worms resemble handfuls of white spaghetti draped over rocks. What makes the Pompeii worm unique is its ability to tolerate temperatures of up to 176 degrees Fahrenheit [80°C.]! Of course, vent bacteria, which coat the Pompeii worm, are also able to withstand high temperatures.b

An Eerie Light!

In 1985, scientists were surprised when near the vents they found shrimps that have two eyelike organs with light-sensitive chemicals but no lenses. Of course, the first question that came to mind was, What could these animals possibly see in a world of total darkness? In order to find out, researchers made use of a highly sensitive digital camera, such as is used to photograph faint stars. They aimed the camera at a vent, turned off all their lights, and took a picture.

The result was amazing. The picture revealed “a dramatic, unequivocal glow with a sharply defined edge” where the jet of hot water left the chimney, says scientist Cindy Lee Van Dover. Do the shrimps exploit this eerie light, which is invisible to human eyes? Whatever the case, the discovery that hydrothermal vents glow “opens up a whole new area of research,” adds Van Dover.

The Biggest and the Smallest

Recently, a section of methane-rich seafloor was found to be home to the largest bacteria known to science. Discovered in 1997, these giants, which resemble a string of beads, are from 100 to 200 times longer than the average bacterium. They are also big eaters, leaving barely a trace of toxic sulfides in the sediment, thus making the area safe for other marine creatures.

What may be earth’s smallest living organism was also recently found under the sea, although in this case three miles [5 km] under the seabed! A report in The New York Times describes the discovery, made off Western Australia, as “so bizarre as to have touched off hot international debate.” The main point at issue is whether or not the entities—called nanobes because their size is measured in nanometers, or billionths of a meter—are living organisms. They resemble fungi, are roughly the same size as viruses, have DNA, and seem to reproduce quickly, forming dense colonies.

So much life is now being discovered that many scientists believe that the total mass of microbial life hidden inside the earth’s upper crust may exceed by far the mass of all the surface life! These discoveries are kindling a revolution in scientific thinking. One scientist said: “Dogma in microbiology is out the window in the past few years. The field has rediscovered itself. It’s essentially a new science.”

What is more, these truly profound discoveries teach us something that transcends science. The Bible captures the essence of this insight: “[God’s] invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made.” (Romans 1:20) For instance, God is very concerned about cleanliness. This is evident in the bacteria and other sea creatures that help to detoxify many potential poisons coming from inside the earth and from decaying matter settling down from the ocean above. Clearly, God is concerned about the health of the planet and of all living things on it. As we will see in the following article, this personality trait of the Creator guarantees a glorious future for all terrestrial life.

[Footnotes]