Micro-monsters from the depths of the sea
No, these are not aliens in miniature. Such "beauties" live in the deepest depths of the oceans and seas, sorry for the tautology. Thanks to macrophotography, it is now possible to look into the "faces" of these deep inhabitants.
These tiny monsters look like aliens from another planet, but in fact they are just creatures from the depths of the oceans.
Known as Polychaetes (polychaete worms), these creatures live under the enormous pressure of the sea, where the sun never penetrates.
Since the 1970s, scientists have been testing their knowledge of the deep ocean floor.
Instead of a wasteland, they found very diverse communities of creatures living on and around hydrothermal vents.
Hydrothermal vents are cracks in the seabed, which are usually located near the epicenter of earthquakes, volcanoes and on the edges of tectonic plates.
They spew super-hot water and a cocktail of chemicals, in which such creatures as these worms live.
Polychaete worms crawl along the ocean floor near cracks, using their terrible teeth to chew bacteria and protozoa living in hot water and chemical soup.
The community at the source gets its energy from chemistry rather than photosynthesis, since sunlight never reaches here.
This leads to strange alliances: symbiotic bacteria live on polychaete worms, which give them nutrients.
Some scientists believe that worms depend on these bacteria.
They may look like monsters of the deep sea, but the ability of these worms to survive in such conditions amazes many scientists. "The depths of the sea are one of the most diverse habitats on Earth," says scientist Daniel Debruot from France. "However, we haven't got there yet."