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Species

Vent crab

Segonzacia mesatlantica

Keystone predator and scavenger on sulfide chimneys while uniquely adapted to chronic hypoxia.

Ecoregions
Rainbow Vent Field
Ecoregion types
Deep‑Sea
Trophic levels
Secondary Consumer
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About this species

Species identity

Keystone predator and scavenger on sulfide chimneys while uniquely adapted to chronic hypoxia.

Role in the ecosystem

Vent crab helps explain how marine food webs function through its ecological role, habitat use, and connection to broader ecosystem change.

Scientific reference

WoRMS

Citation

https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=107266

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Related species

Blind shrimp
Species
Blind shrimp
Rimicaris exoculata

It forms colossal swarms on black smokers, farming sulfide‐oxidizing bacteria in its gills.

Kaup's arrowtooth eel
Species
Kaup's arrowtooth eel
Synaphobranchus kaupii

A deep-sea eel which lives at depths of 800 to 2,000 meters, feeding on crustaceans, fish, and cephalopods.

Sulfur-methane‑oxidizing chemosynthetic bacteria
Species
Sulfur-methane‑oxidizing chemosynthetic bacteria
Gammaproteobacterium

Drive carbon fixation and fuel the unique food webs of hydrothermal vent ecosystems.

Related ecoregion

Rainbow Vent Field
Ecoregion
Rainbow Vent Field
Deep‑Sea

Situated in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a giant underwater mountain chain running down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly 2,500 to 3,000 meters deep. Hot vents, called black smokers, release 350 °C mineral-rich fluids. Microbes here make energy from chemicals, a process called chemosynthesis. They support colonies of worms, shrimp, and mussels living in total darkness. Most threatened by Seabed Mining.