Chinese scientists map world's deepest marine ecosystem

Geographical distribution of 11 deep-sea species. (Screenshot of "Evolution and genetic adaptation of fishes to the deep sea")

(ECNS) -- A Chinese research team has discovered a vast abundance of abyssal microorganisms thriving under extreme hydrostatic pressures ranging from 600 to 1,100 atmospheres in ocean depths exceeding 6,000 meters, according to the international academic journal Cell on Thursday.

The study, titled “Evolution and genetic adaptation of fishes to the deep sea”, analysed over 2,000 samples of abyssal sediment, deep-sea fish, and hadal amphipods, revealing key adaptations that enable their survival in extreme environments, their evolutionary history and molecular mechanisms, alongside the human impacts at such depths.

The team has built the most comprehensive abyssal prokaryotic microbial gene dataset to date, identifying 7,564 representative species genomes, 89.4 percent of which belong to previously unreported new species. Their diversity is comparable to the total known marine microbial diversity worldwide.

Having mapped the abyssal food chain, from microbes to invertebrates and vertebrates, the team shed light on co-evolution in extreme environments, expanding people’s understanding of deep-sea life.

The abyssal ecosystem also holds huge potential for new genes, structures, and functions, offering new solutions to global biological resource shortages.