New species found at record ocean depth
Scientists just uncovered new species living over 31,000 feet down in the northwest Pacific trenches.
Using a submersible, they spotted tubeworms and mollusks thriving where there's no sunlight and crushing pressure—places once thought too harsh for anything but microbes.
Turns out, there's way more life down there than anyone expected.
Researchers say this could change our understanding of life
Without sunlight, these deep-sea organisms rely on carbon drifting down from above.
Microbes turn that carbon into chemicals that seep from the ocean floor, which tubeworms and mollusks likely feed on.
This changes what we thought we knew about life in extreme places and opens up new questions about what else might be hiding in Earth's most remote corners.
As study authors Mengran Du and Vladimir Mordukhovich put it, this discovery is a big step for understanding how life adapts to the toughest conditions imaginable.