An expedition to explore the creatures of deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the dark abyss of the Southern Ocean has revealed a “lost world,” straight out of a Jules Verne adventure. Scientists have found new species of crab, snail, sea star, barnacle, sea anemome, and even octopus. These animals thrive in total darkness, warmed by the heat of the vents, and mostly sustained by a food chain that begins with sulphur-oxidizing bacteria that thrive by the mineral-rich waters released from the vents. But scientists have also been surprised by what they did not find: common organisms found at hydrothermal vents in other oceans.

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