The animals are actuallyshapingtheir situation, wriggling through the sediment and paving the way for other forms of life.
The team sampled sediment cores from the Pacific Oceans Japan Trench off the coast of Honshu.
Even there, life finds a way.
A tomographic image of trace fossils of a burrowing animal.Image: Jussi Hovikoski et al., Nature Communications (2025)
The teams research waspublishedtoday inNature Communications.
Bioturbation is an engineering process by which animals or plants oxygenate and irrigate sediment.
Many creatures do this by burrowing, and those under the seafloor are no exception.
In their study, the researchers analyzed 20 sediment cores from the Japan Trench.
This final phase of colonization is represented by invertebrate species that utilize the microbial communities.
Based on burrow morphologies, these likely include certain bivalve species.
The bottom of the sea is a lively place.
In lieu of sunlight filtering from above,creatures glowwith their own bioluminescence, and some rocks evenproduce oxygen.
As far as scientists are aware, life as we know it needs water to eke out existence.
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