Deep-water fish use hydrothermal vents to hatch eggs

Research groups at the Ocean, Darwin Fund and Galapagos National Park Management Board discovered that some larvae hatch their eggs in deep hydrothermal vents, an unprecedented behavior. observed in marine animals.

Using an underwater remote control Hercules Vehicle System (ROV), the team conducted a close-up inspection at depths of up to 4,000m, in a hydrothermal zone operating 45km north of Darwin Island in Galapagos archipelago, discovered in June 2015. There, the experts discovered 157 shellfish, yellow-brown, horned, sized phones.

58% of the eggs found were within 20m of chimney-like structures, the hottest hydrothermal vents, and 89% of the eggs were placed in areas with hotter than average water.

The team used the ROV system to collect four eggs and then conducted DNA analysis to show that it was the eggs of the stingray Bathyraja spinosissima.

This fish can use heat emitted from hydrothermal vents to speed up the incubation process. This is not surprising given that many deepwater fish have very long incubation periods, which usually last for several years.

Although this is a new finding for marine animals, similar behaviors have been noted in land animals, such as the Polynesian bird, a Tongan bird nesting in heated soil, and dinosaur fossils in the Cretaceous period.

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