Hydrothermal Vent Ecosystem

Energy Source

Chemo-Autotrophs

Primary Consumers

Secondary Consumers

Top Consumers

Hydrothermal Vent Food Web

Vent Octopus

Blind Crabs

Scientific Name: Vulcanoctopus Hydrothermalis

Scientific Name: Kiwa Hirsuta

Food Source: zoarcid fish, galatheid crab. This organism is a top predator in the food chain and will eat almost anything.

Food Source: dandelion, bacteria, deep sea worms, clams, mussels and anything else it can catch.

Fun Fact:

Females leave the vents to have their babies because the children can't handle the harsh heat. Usually after they breed, the mothers die.

Fun Fact:

This species of octopus doesn't have an ink sack like it's relatives, so when it feels threatened, it runs away and hides until it feels safe enough to come out.

Zoarcid Fish

Tube Dwelling Anemone

Dandelion Siphonophores

Vent Ratfish

Scientific Name: Thermarces Cerberus

Scientific Name: Cerianthus

Scientific Name: Thermopalia Taraxaca

Scientific Name: Hydrolagus Colliei

Fun Fact:

When female Ratfish lay their eggs, they leave the babies to survive on their own.

Food Source: vent shrimp and anything else it can capture and sting with it's tentacles.

Food Source: this organism is known as a scavenger and will eat dead organisms and vent shrimp.

Food Sources: crabs, clams, shrimp, worms, sea stars, fishes.

Fun Fact:

Since these organisms are scavengers, this species is a good indicator to whether the ecosystem is alive or dead.

Food Source: galatheid crab, zooplankton and anything else it can catch, as it is a slow and lethargic moving predator.

Fun Fact:

This organism thrives 1.5 miles below the surface of the ocean.

Fun Fact:

These fish can grow up to at least 2 feet long.

Brachyuran Crab

Vent Shrimp

Pompeii Worm

Scientific Name: Bythograca Thermydron

Scientific Name: Alvinella Pompejana

Galatheid Crab

Scientific Name: Rimicaris Hybrsae

Scientific Name: Munidopsis Curvirostra

Food Source: microbes and bacteria.

Food Source:

mussels, microbes, tube worm, and sometimes other crabs.

Food Source: microbes and bacteria.

They have a sort of symbiotic

relationship. The hairs on

it's back provide places for

bacteria to live on and the

worm eats the microbes.

Food Source:

microbes, zooplankton and any animals that are smaller than itself.

Fun Fact:

These crabs have very short tails that are entirely hidden under the thorax.

Fun Fact:

Since this organism can withstand large amounts of heat, it usually resides near the opening of the vent.

They are also known as the blind shrimp because of their eye sight.

The tail of the Pompeii worm can be in waters as hot as 81 degrees Celsius and the head can be in water as moderate as 22 degrees Celsius.

Fun Fact:

While a part of the lobster family, these organisms don't turn red when boiled.

Fun Fact:

Zooplankton

Zooplankton population changes seasonally and members of the population occasionally feed on the other members belonging to the same species.

Mussels

The bacteria, like the ones found in microbes, are commonly known as extremophiles because they are adapted to survive in the harsh climate of the vent community.

Tube Worm

Microbes

Scientific Name: Bathymodiolus Thermophilus

Scientific Name: Riftia Pachyptila

Microbes include Bacteria and Archaea that use Chemosynthesis to make their own food.

Scientific Names for some bacteria:

Episilonproteo bacteria

Beggiatoa bacteria

Thiomargarita bacteria

Food Source:

Endosymbiotic relationship between bacteria living inside it

There are thousands of species of Zooplankton known to man that live in the ocean and many organisms inhabiting the hydrothermal vent ecosystem eat many of the different kinds.

Food Source: would include the elements released from the vents.

Fun Fact:

When mussels decide they want to move within their ecosystem, they shoot out a thread kind of like how a spider shoots out a web strand. The thread sticks to a rock or hard surface and then the mussel can reel itself along the thread.

Fun Fact:

Food Source: these organisms find food in the source of chemosynthetic bacteria

The Tube Worms have a special hemoglobin that allows them to carry oxygen and hydrogen sulfide in their blood to allow the bacteria inside them to oxidize the hydrogen sulfide into energy.

-Organisms that derive energy from inorganic compounds.

Hydrothermal Vent

Vents are a crack or breakage in the Earth's surface. Seawater seeps in the cracks on the ocean floor and the magma underneath the tectonic plates heats the water and forces it upwards. The vent is formed when a jet of water comes shooting out, allowing the dissolved minerals and chemicals in the water to now separate and provide a food source for the chemosynthetic bacteria.

The two pictures are images of the types of vents that occur. They are called white smokers and black smokers. The colour depends on the minerals present in the vent.

Fun Fact:

There is no sunlight found at the vent ecosystems, so the organisms that live there live solely without sunlight and use a process called chemosynthesis to live.