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deep sea creatures in the trenches of Japanis volcanically active”ring of FireScientists found that the belts are rapidly adapting to extreme depths.
Researchers documented about 30,000 of these creatures, Especially those that live 7,000 to 10,000 meters (22,700 to 32,000 ft) below the sea. Their findings revealed that seabed ecosystems Are shaped by depth, food supply, seismic activity, as well as the structure of the sea floor.
These observations were part of a crewed submersible mission conducted over the course of six years in the Huddle Zone, the deepest part of the world’s oceans, in the Japan, Ryukyu and Izu-Ogasawara trenches of the northwestern Pacific Ocean. submarine dive From August to September 2022.
Videos taken by the crew revealed documentation of organisms spanning 70 morphological groups in 11 taxonomic categories in eight habitat types.
For example, the nutrient-rich Japan Trench, which runs more than 600 km (372 mi) parallel to the east coast of Japan, supports a high abundance of sea cucumbers and other creatures that feed on seafloor deposits such as mysid shrimp and tube anemones at a depth of about 7.5 km (24,600 ft).
On the other hand, the more food-limited Ryukyu Trench at this depth was dominated by very isolated communities and sea cucumbers were almost absent.
And in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, at a depth of about 9 km (30,000 ft), extensive sea lily meadows were discovered.
“This provided one of the most detailed observations of seafloor biodiversity and habitats at these depths,” said Dennis Swanbourne of the University of Western Australia, lead author of the study published in. Biography Journal.
“We found differences in community composition and diversity between trenches, which are linked to surface water depth and nutrient inputs,” Dr Swanborn said.
One of the dives also led to the discovery of the world’s deepest fish, a snailfish that lived 8 km below sea level, researchers announced in 2023.
The dives revealed that although the abundance of organisms in the Hadal area may have been lower than in the shallow waters near the shore, several major groups of animals were still present, displaying “an amazing range of adaptations”, according to Dr Swanborn.
“Within the trenches, at the same depth band, historical seismic disturbances and differences in seafloor stability created different communities,” said the deep-sea ecologist.
“For example, historically seismically active areas in the Japan Trench were dominated by low-diversity organisms that had adapted to their environment, while the more stable under-riding slope supported more diverse communities,” she explained.
These findings shed further light on how depth, regional setting, and seafloor disturbance through seismic activity and the supply of nutrients from land interact with the structure of marine ecosystems.
The researchers hope this study can provide the basis for future ecological research in the “deepest parts of the ocean.”