Life finds a way...

Scientists say they cruised the ocean in a deep-sea submersible and came across an undiscovered ecosystem

The hadal zone is primarily comprised of oceanic trenches and troughs — some of the deepest and least explored environments on Earth. At these depths, “life needs tricks to survive and thrive there,” explained Du, a professor and researcher at the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

#hadalzone #deepsea #life #environment
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/11/science/deep-sea-discovery-hadal-trenches

#NewSpecies of ocean predator in the Atacama Trench
https://phys.org/news/2024-12-ocean-predator-atacama-trench.html #DeepSea

A new large predator (#Amphipoda) hidden at hadal depths of the #AtacamaTrench: Johanna Weston et al. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14772000.2024.2416430

"Characterized by darkness and intense pressure, the ocean's #HadalZone seems uninhabitable, yet dozens of unique organisms call it home... A new study highlights one of those species... This #crustacean is the first large, active predatory #amphipod from these extreme depths"

A new way to discover life in the #ocean’s #hadal zone https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/a-new-way-to-discover-life-in-the-oceans-hadal-zone/

"#HadalZone, depth ranging from 6,000 meters and deeper, is home to #animal life that is adapted to crushing pressure, inky blackness, and island-like habitats. Every species #scientists find can tell us more about where to look for life beyond our planet. We just need to catch them. That’s where #WHOI biologist Johanna Weston comes in... she’s designing a new sampler... the first rated for much deeper missions"

#Parasite of the Day: Diexanthema hakuhomaruae http://dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2023/07/diexanthema-hakuhomaruae.html

D. hakuhomaruae sp. nov. (#Copepoda) from the #HadalZone in the Northwestern #Pacific https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11686-023-00676-z

"Parasitic #copepods come in all kinds of shapes that would defy most people's idea of what a #crustacean is 'supposed' to look like. And D. hakuhomaruae is no different - its tiny body is ROUND and if anything, it looks like a legless tick. And much like a tick, it attaches itself stubbornly to the leg of its host"

How deepest sea dwellers adapted to their environment https://phys.org/news/2023-06-scientists-reveal-deepest-sea-dwellers.html

Chromosome-level #genome assembly of #HadalSnailfish reveals mechanisms of #DeepSea adaptation in vertebrates https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/87198v1

"The complete absence of light in the #HadalZone appears to have had a profound effect on the #fish. The scientists observed a substantial loss of many #genes related to vision. In addition, many genes related to #CircadianRhythms were absent."