By: Isaac Yuan

Under the western shores of Central and South America, there is a world full of diverse life thousands of feet underwater. On the seafloor, hydrothermal vents fire off jets of very hot water that reach temperatures of up to 700 degrees Fahrenheit. The hot, mineral-rich fluids that come from the hydrothermal vents are very important to the creatures living there. But even though there is a lot of life above the vents, scientists never thought that there would be life under them.

That all changed in July when a high-tech diving robot overturned volcanic bedrock sprinkled with hydrothermal vents and revealed a place bursting with animal life, including an abundance of tubeworms, bizarre creatures that resemble living spaghetti.

The idea that animal life can be found below the surface is shocking. This discovery raises new questions about deep-sea ecosystems. Could there be something else about these tubeworms that we haven’t found out about yet? “I also can’t help but wonder if there is some life stage more commonly found in the subseafloor, such as larvae,” Dr. Huber said.

Monika Bright is an ecologist at the University of Vienna and the lead scientist on the expedition. “I’m thinking that there’s so much mystery to be discovered on our Earth,” she said. “I feel like I know this place. I’ve studied this place for 30 years. And still, you can find something unexpected.”