An astonishing new ecosystem has just been announced following a discovery inside volcanic caves off Central America. It took the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s (SOI) research vessel Falkor (too) 30 days to complete its expedition, and brought home one of the biggest discoveries in 46 years of studying hydrothermal vents.

Here, on the East Pacific Rise, an underwater robot was able to turn over sections of volcanic crust to reveal a new-to-science ecosystem teeming with worms, snails, and chemosynthetic bacteria that are seemingly thriving despite living in 25°C (75°F) water. It changes the way we now view hydrothermal vents, adding a whole new dimension with ecosystems existing both on their surface and underneath.

“On land, we have long known of animals living in caves underground, and in the ocean of animals living in sand and mud, but for the first time, scientists have looked beneath hydrothermal vents,” said SOI’s Executive Director, Dr Jyotika Virmani, in a statement sent to IFlScience. “This truly remarkable discovery of a new ecosystem, hidden beneath another ecosystem, provides fresh evidence that life exists in incredible places.”

It’s the first time life has been found underneath hydrothermal vents, which are hot volcanic springs found along the seabed. The team also found evidence that surface species like tubeworms can travel underneath from the surface using vent fluid, enabling them to expand their range.

New hydrothermal vents can appear when tectonic activity sees the plates on Earth’s crust shift and crack. These cracks fill with seawater that gets heated by the magma, making it rise back to the seafloor.

We’ve long understood how new hydrothermal vents appear, but what had people scratching their heads was how the ecosystems that live