One example : bizarre three-foot long tube “tubeworms” that have no eyes, no mouth, and no intestines. They derive their energy from a special kind of bacteria; chemoautotrophs, ( chemo-source of energy from chemicals; auto-synthesize their own food; trophs-type of feeding ). These bacteria use energy in the chemicals within the expunged vent material to synthesize carbon compounds they need to grow and reproduce. They are able to transform these carbon compounds into simple sugars and other molecules. Another way of looking at it is; bacteria gain energy from metabolizing inorganic compounds similar in style to that of plants, which use sunlight to synthesize carbon compounds they need to grow and reproduce. In a nutshell, these bacteria serve some of the same functions as plants, creating organic matter at the base of the food chain for other organisms to use.
The exact manner in which this process occurs is not fully understood, but Colleen Cavanaugh has discovered a key to how this process occurs. The two organisms have a symbiotic relationship, they have evolved together for the ultimate survival of both. The “tubeworms” have an organ called a trophosome that is highly vascularized and contains cells packed full of these chemoautotrophic bacteria. By means no yet fully understood the ‘tubeworm” provides all the chemicals (sulfur, oxygen, and carbon dioxide) necessary for the bacteria to grow and the bacteria manufactures sugars and other molecules that provide nutrition for the “tubeworm”.
This is an excerpt from a paper I wrote on hydrothermal vents for my geology class. If my research showed me anything it was that life can exist and thrive under quite a range of conditions, what is deadly to one species is essential to another. The space related point is obvious, we should not look for life in conditions that are suitable for man exclusively. Life could very well exist on other planets in conditions that are quite inhospitable to man.
Happy Holidays, VINCE