Deep Sea Creatures Can Stowaway on Submersibles
Posted on May 24, 2012
Marine scientists have discovered that deep-sea creatures can stowaway on submarines and survive the extreme pressure change that occurs when a research submersible rises to the top. The creatures may then inadvertently be carried to new areas.
After using the manned submersible Alvin to collect samples of species from the Juan de Fuca Ridge under the northeastern Pacific Ocean, researchers discovered 38 deep-sea limpets (Lepetodrilus gordensis) among their sample. This species is believed to occur reside in the vents of the Gorda Ridge, which are 635 kilometers south of the dive site. Lepetodrilus gordensis, the limpets recovered from the Alvin submersible, are pictured above.
Dr. Janet Voight, from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, says, "The big question was, how did they get over 600 kilometers from their habitat? We discovered that the individuals must have been transported from the Gorda Ridge by our submersible. Even though we clean the submersibles after sampling we had assumed that the extreme pressure change would kill any species which are missed."
The introduction of new species to an ecosystem by humans, often inadvertently, is a huge challenge to conservation. How a new species will react to new surroundings, and the effect it can have, is unpredictable. In coastal environments one of the biggest threats posed by invasive species to native species is disease. Newly introduced pathogens and parasites can cause mass mortality events. Diseases that may exist in the extreme environments created by hydrothermal vents have not been well studied.
The research was published in Conservation Biology.