Scientists are studying barnacles that live around deep-sea hydrothermal vents in order to better understand the origin, dispersal and diversity of life in these environments. The study, supported in part by the Astrobiology Science & Technology Instrument Development (ASTID) element of the Astrobiology Program, indicates that barnacles have colonized deep-sea vents at least twice in history. A major lineage of barnacles that we see today originated in the western Pacific ocean during the Cenozoic, and then spread eastward through the Southern Hemisphere during the Neogene.

Information about how and when barnacles became dispersed around Earth’s vents provides clues about the dispersal of other deep-sea organisms, and how the distribution of organisms shaped the diversity of vent ecosystems. The results could also help scientists assess the effects of human disturbances on life deep below Earth’s oceans.

The study, “Evolutionary and biogeographical patterns of barnacles from deep-sea hydrothermal vents,” was published in the journal Molecular Ecology.