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As if the geology of diving amid towering superheated, fluid chimneys hasn’t been exciting enough, the team has recorded many exciting biological encounters as ROV Hercules meets sea creatures who call the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vent Fields home. Hydrothermal vents host some of the highest levels of microbial diversity on Earth and this Canadian marine protected area along the Juan de Fuca Ridge protects many highly concentrated biodiverse sites monitored and researched by Ocean Networks Canada’s (ONC) observatory. Just beyond the billowing black smoke, the ever-growing ledges of the chimneys are home to dense communities of Ridgeia tube worms, polychaete scaleworms, pycnogonid sea spiders and snails warmed in the flowing venting fluids. Between installations of seafloor equipment, a deep-sea Graneledone pacifica octopus stopped to flex its tentacles. Amid the vents, where nutrients are abundant, the team spotted several predator fish including a Pacific flatnose fish (Antimora microlepis) identifiable by the
