Study of deep-sea shrimp reveals how life adapts to the most extreme environments

A study conducted by Ifremer and its partners reveals how 22 species of deep-sea shrimp adapt their diet according to their proximity to hydrothermal vents, increasingly resorting to symbiosis, to the point of feeding exclusively on bacteria lodged in their heads. This work renews our understanding of the evolution of these species and highlights the great vulnerability of deep-sea ecosystems.

For the first time, scientists from Ifremer, the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Sorbonne University, the University of Liège, Temple University in Philadelphia, the University of Southampton, and the University of Rhode Island studied and compared the feeding strategies of 22 deep-sea species, representing nearly two-thirds of known families.

This study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, highlights a continuum of feeding modes ranging from partial symbiosis to exclusive dependence on chemosynthesis.

Unlike shrimp species living further away from hydrothermal vents, which combine symbiosis with more traditional feeding modes (ingestion of bacteria, small prey, or “marine snow”), the three species Rimicaris exoculata, Rimicaris karei, and Rimicaris hybisae, which live closest to the hydrothermal vents, depend entirely on symbiosis with bacteria for food.texte

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