Scientists discover massive new creatures living in the Earth's oceanic crust

Scientists have been left stunned by the discovery of mysterious giant creatures living in the ocean crust.

Our oceans are home to some weird and wonderful creatures that continue to baffle experts. Now, scientists have discovered a new creature at depths of over 2,500 meters below the sea.

The discovery comes as experts have uncovered a surprising ecosystem, full of giant and strange animals, that has shaken up the world of marine biology.

Researchers from the Schmidt Ocean Institute used submersible equipment to explore the depths of the Pacific Ocean and found enormous adult worms up to three metres long inhabiting caverns inside the ocean crust beneath ocean vents.

In the study, they explained giant tubeworms, also known as Riftia pachyptila, had never been observed in the subseafloor crust before, but they are known to live on the sea floor amongst the vents.

When researchers delved deeper into the crust, they found worms inhabiting cavities filled with hydrothermal fluids that are thought to enable creatures to not only survive but thrive as larger specimens than ever believed possible. The conditions there are sulphurous, low in oxygen and hot.

As well as tube worms, experts found the existence of another species of worm called Paralvinella worms, as well as other unique gastropods.

The researchers hypothesised that the ecosystems that exist on the ocean floor and in the crust itself were interlinked, suggesting that the larvae of worms and other animals may travel through the hydrothermal vents.

Their theories were shown to be accurate when “lifting lobate lava shelves revealed adult tubeworms and other vent animals in subseafloor cavities”.

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