Discovery of a chemosynthetic community at the serpentinite-hosted seep on Quaker Seamount, Mariana Forearc
Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Deep-sea chemosynthesis-based ecosystems in the Mariana Region include hydrothermal vents on the Mariana Arc and in the Mariana Back-Arc, and serpentinite-hosted seeps on the Mariana Forearc – with the latter being by far the least studied. Here, we surveyed the biodiversity of the serpentine seep on the Quaker Seamount. At first glance, the area appears to be devoid of megafauna, but examination of the carbonates revealed dense aggregations of animals dominated by the limpets Bathyacmaea and Pyropelta on brucite-carbonate chimney structures exhibiting visible fluid venting. Sorting of recovered material yielded a total of 14 species and together with an observation of a Munidopsis squat lobster we report a total of 15 species; six of these are considered endemics of chemosynthetic ecosystems. The occurrence of taxa such as the snail Lurifax cf. japonicus and the limpet Pyropelta ryukyuensis , otherwise only known from distant vents in the Izu-Ogasawara Arc and Okinawa Trough off Japan, strengthens the hypothesis that serpentine seeps may function as dispersal stepping-stones across arc and back-arc systems.
Authors: Chong Chen, Hiromi Kayama Watanabe, Jade Castel, Didier Jollivet, François H. Lallier, Margaux Mathieu-Resuge, Loïc N. Michel, Yusuke Motomura, Seitaro Ono, Junichi Miyazaki, Ken Takai
Institutions: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Sorbonne Université, Ifremer, Biologie et Ecologie des Ecosystèmes Marins Profonds, University of Liège, The University of Tokyo, Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7117353969