Here’s what you’ll Learn when you read this story:
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In 2023, Scientists from the Occidental College of Los Angeles Collected 36 Specimens of Sea Spider Living Near Methane Seps Along the Pacific Coast from California to Alaska.
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Upon Examining the Arachnid-Like Creatures, They Discoved That These Deep Sea Species Form A Symbiotic Relationship with Methylotrophic Bacteria, Which Provide Food Source in the Pitch Dark Aphotic Zone.
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This New Study Paints A More Complete Picture of How the Deep Sea Helps Kep Methane (The Potent Greenhouse Gas) From Escaping Into The Atmosphere.
When you live in the Ocean’s Aphotic Zone, Where Absolute Darkness ReignsYou Need Some Creative Solutions to Some Pretty Existential Questions. Chief Among Them: What are you going to eat?
For Variety of Ocean Floor-Dwelling Species, Including Mussels, Worms, and Sponges, That Answer Lies with Chemosynthetic Bacteria –organisms that flourish around methane Seeps Where the Gas Escapes The Earth’s Crust. The New Study Shows That Three Species of the Sea Spider Genus Sericosure Also demonstrates the similar ability, Which Helps Explain How these Spindly-Legged Organisms are Found in Such Abundance Near Methane Seps. The Results of the Study Were Published in the Journal PROCEEDINGS OF THE National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Reduce The Name, Sea Spiders Aren’t currently spider (Thought, That’ll Likely Be of Little Comfort to an arachnophobe). Although They Look Remarkably Similar, Sea Spiders have a Thinner Cephalothorax Than Their Eight-Legged Land-Based Lookalikes, and Their Legs Tend to Have More Joints. Oh, and they also live in the Deep Ocean – Mono of Biology’s True Final Frontiers of Scientific Inquiry. This hard-to-Reach Ecosystem is how many aspects of their lives remain to mystery.
“Our Study Aimed to Examine the Ways in Which Overlooked Animals Might Take Advantage of Novel Energy Source, Such As Methane,” Shana Goffredi, The Senior Author of the Study From The Occidental College of Los Angeles, said in a press statement. “While the Deep Sea Feels Far Away, All Organisms Are Interconnected, and the Processes in One Ecosystem Affect Another.”
IN 2023Goffredi-Analong with Two Students, Including Bianca Dal Bó-Embarked on a Two-Week Research Expedition on the R/V Atlantis To Study These Creatures in Their Deep-Se Habitats. With the help of a piloted submersible Named AlvinThey Examined and Collected Sea Spider Specimens Located 1,000 Piesrs (3.280 Feet) Below the Ocean Surface from the Del Mar and Palos Verdes Seeps In California and the Sanak Seep in Alaska. Of the 36 Specimens RECOVED, Three of the Spiders Represented Entirely New Species.
“I have seen animal samples in preservatives in the lab for so long, so it was beautiful to final See them moving around in their natural habitat,” dal bó said in a press statement. “It Made Me Feel All The More Connected to My Project and These Fascinating Ecosystems.”
While Performing Experiments on Board, Goffredi and Dal Bó Incubated The Sea Spiders in Seawater with Methanol and Heavy Isotope of Methane. BECAUSE THIS ISOTOPE IS RARE IN NATURE, THE RESEARCHERS COULD TRACK ITS IMPACT ON THE SEA SPIDERS, INCLUDING IF IT WAS INGASTED. They found that methodlotrophic bacteria localated on the sea spiders’ exoskeletons served as a source of a food.
“Evidence from tissue isotopic analysis, sequencing microbiome, and live-animal incubations followed by 13C-Methane isotope probress Active Incorporation of Methane-Derived Carbon into Spider Tissues, ”The Authors Wrote. for Direct Microbial Transfer of Methane Carbon Into Animal Biomoss in the Deep Sea. ”
This transfer of methane carbon into animal biomss is particularly important for scientists to understand, the methane is One of the Most Potent Greehouse Gases. SEA SPIDERS-With the Help of Other Deep Ocean-Dwelling Animals-ARE DOING THEIR PART TO KEEP Gases Locked Away in the Ocean, SO They Don’t Reach the Atmosphere and exacerbate The Onging Climate Crisis.
“While the Deep Sea Feels Really Far Away, All Organisms Are Interconnected,” Goffredi Told CNN. “Even Thought They’re Small, these animals have a big impact in that environment.
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