Only a decade had passed since the discovery of the vents, vent fauna and their astonishing biology. These animals harbor bacteria that are capable of using energy from toxic hydrogen sulfide in vent fluids to produce organic matter the animals can consume in a process known as chemoautotrophy. In subsequent expeditions, researchers found chemoautotrophic communities at ocean floor hot springs along the spreading centers of the world s plates. Now Smith was observing animals similar to those found at hydrothermal vents and cold seeps on a whale skeleton, and he wondered what chemical substances in its bones were supporting life. Working in the Santa Catalina Basin off the coast of Los Angeles, Smith s research team studied a whale skeleton 1240 meters beneath the sea.
Bacteria decompose the fat anaerobically, emitting hydrogen sulfide.
Thick mats of chemoautotrophic bacteria live off the sulfide, in turn supporting worms, mollusks, crustaceans, and other animals. Twelve years later these communities are still going strong, Smith said. The skeleton of a gray whale whale is visible in the background. The instruments in the basket are used for collecting samples of seafloor sediments and associated animals. The discovery of whale falls and fauna sent Smith off on a path that continues to captivate the attention of scientists, and gradually, a greater audience.