A new species of shrimp has been discovered living deeper than any seen before in the world’s most extreme deep sea volcanic vents. British scientists made the discovery while on an expedition to explore boiling undersea springs – which may be hotter than 450C – on the Caribbean seafloor.
Some 5,000 metres down, in a rift in the seafloor, exists a volcanic spring known as a ‘black smoker’, which fires a jet of mineral-laden water more than a kilometre into the ocean above.
But despite the extreme conditions, the vents are teeming with thousands of a new species of shrimp that has a light-sensing organ on its back. The pale shrimp congregate in hordes – up to 2,000 shrimp per square metre – around the six-metre tall mineral spires of the vents.
Lacking normal eyes, the shrimp instead have a light-sensing organ on their backs, which may help them to navigate in the faint glow of deep-sea vents.
The researchers have named the shrimp Rimicaris hybisae, after the deep-sea vehicle that they used to collect them.