ScienceDaily (Mar. 6, 2012) — Among the many intriguing aspects of the deep sea, Earth’s largest ecosystem, exist environments known as hydrothermal vent systems where hot water surges out from the seafloor. On the flipside the deep sea also features cold areas where methane rises from “seeps” on the ocean bottom.
It’s extremely rare to find both habitat types intersecting in one place, but that’s what researchers found and explored during an expedition in 2010 off Costa Rica. A description of the scientists’ findings, including a large number of mysterious, undescribed species, is published in a study led by Lisa Levin of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego in the March 7 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences).