A highly advanced submersible found a flourishing ecosystem at the deepest trenches of the Pacific Ocean and captured its unique life forms.

Scientists have long studied organisms that thrive around hydrothermal vents. But those native to areas known as cold seeps — where gases like methane and hydrogen sulfite leach from the seafloor at near-freezing temperatures — have been little studied.

A team of researchers discovered a “flourishing” ecosystem of clams, tube worms and other creatures over 30,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean. The discoveries mark the “deepest and the most extensive chemosynthesis-based communities known to exist,

"There's often an edge to the human eye on the seafloor." Scientists shocked as deep-sea expedition captures 'enigmatic' discovery at bottom of Pacific Ocean: 'Might otherwise be missed entirely' first appeared on The Cool Down.