Scientist find eyeless shrimp in Cayman trench

(CNS): White-tentacled anemones and eyeless shrimps and are among the new forms of life scientists have found thriving near the super-hot underwater vents in the Cayman Trench this week One group of Scientists from the National Oceanography Centre have discovered a six centermetre long shrimp with no eyes but a light-sensing organ on its back  in an undersea hot spring. Named Rimicaris hybisae researchers says it is related to a species called Rimicaris exoculata previously discovered in the mid-Atlantic ridge. The vent, in which this latest kind of shrimp was found discharges thick black smoke and reaches a scorching 450 degrees Celsius and is rich in minerals such as copper.

"Studying the creatures at these vents, and comparing them with species at other vents around the world; will help us to understand how animals disperse and evolve in the deep ocean," Dr. Jon Copley, a marine biologist at the University of Southampton said about the discovery.

"Finding black smoker vents on Mount Dent was a complete surprise," adds Dr. Doug Connelly, a marine geochemist at the National Oceanography Centre. "Hot and acidic vents have never been seen in an area like this before, and usually we don't even look for vents in places like this."
He explained that one of the big mysteries of deep-sea vents is how animals are able to disperse from vent field to vent field, crossing apparently large distances."

The researchers found the previously unknown vents on the upper slopes of Mount Dent, which rises some 3km from the sea floor in the Cayman trench area but its peaks are still another 3kilometres below the surface. The discoveries suggest that active deep-sea volcanic vents are more widespread around the globe than previously thought, he added.

The scientists also found hundreds of white anemones lining the cracks where warm, copper-rich water seeps from the seabed as well as snake-like fish, an unknown species of snail and a flea-like crustacean called an amphipod.

See video here