Abyssal spiders

1996/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ekologia

In 1977 spiders and tubal worms of the genus Riftia were discovered in the sea more than 2,000 meters deep. This fauna that lives in such difficult situations feeds on bacteria. These bacteria oxidize the metallic sulphides of hot water (300-400°C) from the failures of the dorsal ocean.

The Victoria University of Canada and the University of London have jointly defined the biogeography of this fauna. They move from one source of hot water to another following the ocean ridge. When after several years of exploitation food is exhausted in the hot water source, the larvae of worms or spiders will colonize other sources. Mature worms or spiders, due to their slowness, remain in them.

To complete this theory, the data were first collected. In two sources located 800 kilometers away from each other in the eastern dorsal of the Pacific 54 species have been found equal, but in the eastern and western turtles of the Pacific there are only five species equal. The study of these communities allows to know the formation of plate tectonics.