| Mesozoic sponge mounds are essentially devoid of any important photosynthetic or chemosynthetic activity. |
| Scientists have identified over 300 species of life, including fish, tubeworms, clams, and chemosynthetic bacteria living around these vents. |
| It was only when the vent chemosynthetic ecosystems were discovered that the importance of hydrothermal vents was globally acknowledged. |
| Thus, the base of the deep-sea ecosystem's food chain may comprise both chemosynthetic and, probably in small proportion, photosynthetic bacteria. |
| Seep communities are also based on microbial chemosynthetic primary production and share a few species and many genera with hydrothermal vent communities. |
| One of the most conspicuous groups of animals living in deep-sea chemosynthetic communities at hydrothermal vents are large vestimentiferan tube worms. |
