page_title: Beebe Hydrothermal Vent Field
section_title: Biology
hierarchical_section_title: Beebe Hydrothermal Vent Field / Biology
caption_attribution_description: English: Close-up of the shrimp (Rimicaris hybisae) populating the chimneys of the Beebe (Piccard) vent field near the Beebe 1 site.
context_page_description: The Beebe Hydrothermal Vent Field is located just south of Grand Cayman in the Caribbean, on the north side of the Mid-Cayman Spreading Centre in the Cayman Trough. Approximately 24 kilometres south of Beebe is the Von Damm Vent Field.
  At nearly 5,000 metres below sea level, Beebe is the world's deepest known hydrothermal vent site and one of the few known to reside in the abyssopelagic. The hydrothermal plume nicknamed "Piccard" was detected in 2010, and the Beebe site was discovered later that year. The vent field hosts two main areas of black smoker venting, with a fluid at temperatures of over 400 °C and a low salinity of about 2.3 wt% NaCl. Under these conditions, the venting fluid is supercritical at the vent orifice, and is the only site shown to host sustained supercritical venting. The combined depth and vent fluid temperature make it a popular site for studying aqueous thermodynamics, high-pressure biology, and geochemistry.
context_section_description: Beebe has an abundance of shrimp present at venting orifices, particularly those of Rimicaris hybisae, belonging to the family of Alvinocarididae, and are almost completely blind. These shrimp have eyes as juveniles but lose them as they age, developing a light-sensing organ that they can use to detect the infrared glow of hot, venting locations. The shrimp at the Beebe vent field are unique from those found at the Von Damm field in that they are a slightly more brown color due to the high concentrations of iron pumped out by the vents.
  There is also an abundance of deep sea anemones and solitary squat lobsters. As with other vent fields, it is possible for sharks or roaming fishes such as grenadiers or wreckfish to appear around the field.
  From a microbial standpoint, there are visible mats of microbial activity at both the Beebe and Von Damm vent systems. Microorganisms are suggested utilize hydrogen and sulfide in venting fluids to metabolize chemosynthetically. Some of these microorganisms are present on or within vent crustaceans, being routinely grazed or taking up roles as symbiotic organisms.
caption: Rimicaris hybisae at the Beebe Vent Field.
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