Hydrothermal vent fauna

Since the first dive to deep-sea hydrothermal vents in 1977, over 300 species have been described from a spectrum of vent environments throughout the world’s oceans. The majority of these organisms are ultimately dependent upon chemosynthetic microbes (either “free-living” or living symbiotically in association with host organisms) that derive their energy from geothermally-derived chemical compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide. Vent fauna described in the present article include vestimentiferan tubeworms (e.g., Riftia pachyptila), mussels (e.g., Bathymodiolus thermophilus) and clams (e.g., Calyptogena magnifica) with symbiotic microbes, as well as a diversity of additional unusual organisms found at vents.