The deep sea, the largest biome on Earth, has a series of characteristics that make this
environment both distinct from other marine and land ecosystems and unique for the entire …

Chemosynthetic symbioses between bacteria and marine invertebrates were discovered 30
years ago at hydrothermal vents on the Galapagos Rift. Remarkably, it took the discovery of …

Extreme marine environments cover more than 50% of the Earth's surface and offer many
opportunities for investigating the biological responses and adaptations of organisms to …

Whale falls produce remarkable organic-and sulfide-rich habitat islands at the seafloor. The
past decade has seen a dramatic increase in studies of modern and fossil whale remains …

Until recently, the deep continental margins (200–4,000 m) were perceived as monotonous
mud slopes of limited ecological or environmental concern. Progress in seafloor map** …

The Miocene Pisco Formation, broadly exposed in the Ica Desert of southern Peru, is among
the most outstanding Cenozoic marine Fossil-Lagerstätten worldwide. It is renowned for its …

The discovery in 2002 of a natural whale-fall at 2893m depth in Monterey Bay, California,
led to the description of Osedax, a novel genus of bone-eating worms (Annelida …

Sediments associated with hydrothermal venting, methane seepage and large organic falls
such as whale, wood and plant detritus create deep-sea networks of soft-sediment habitats …

Dead whale carcasses that sink to the deep seafloor introduce a massive pulse of energy
capable of hosting dynamic communities of organisms in an otherwise food-limited …

Whale carcasses create remarkable habitats in the deep-sea by producing concentrated
sources of organic matter for a food-deprived biota as well as places of evolutionary novelty …