An international crew led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently took the plunge into the northwest Pacific Ocean’s deepest trenches-- over 9 kilometers down (around 5.6 miles) aboard the intrepid submersible Fendouzhe. What did they find? "Thriving communities" of creatures, including clam beds, shimmering ice-like bacterial mats, and sprawling tube worm fields! (view video). This vibrant and strange marine life flips the script on what we thought was possible in the pitch-black, crushing-pressure depths of the ocean.

Published in Nature, their epic adventure revealed that these deep-sea residents don’t rely on sunlight but instead feast on chemicals like hydrogen sulfide and methane bubbling up from the ocean floor—a process called chemosynthesis. Dr. Xiaotong Peng called the discovery “amazing,” marveling at the sheer abundance of life, while Dr. Megran Du highlighted the incredible ways these creatures adapt and power themselves in such a harsh environment.

Prof. Andrew Sweetman from the Scottish Association for Marine Science points out that methane-fueled ecosystems might be the ocean’s best-kept secret, hidden deep in trenches worldwide. This discovery not only rewrites the rulebook on life’s limits but also opens new chapters in exploring how life thrives against the odds in Earth’s most extreme realms.