Scientists Collect Creatures From Submarine Volcano northeast of Bay of Plenty

Scientists from New Zealand and Japan have recovered a variety of deep-sea creatures while making the first-ever dive in a submersible into the crater of a seafloor volcano northeast of Bay of Plenty.

" As we descended, we first saw thick black smoke out the windows at 1600m. This means the hydrothermal plumes are rising 50 to 100 meters above the vents in Brothers volcano. That tells us straight away that we have vigorous hydrothermal venting directly below the sub."

Part-way through a six-dive programme, the scientists have collected numerous long-neck barnacles, shrimps, limpets, tubeworms, and crabs as well as "black smoker" chimneys packed with metallic minerals from inside an active crater.

Read the complete Press Release: Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences