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Smoked Shrimp

October 5, 2012

Deep-sea shrimp thrive at one of the planet’s hottest black smoker hydrothermal vents, where the temperature of expelled fluids measured 400°C (about 750°F). The “smoke” consists of dark, fine-grained particles suspended in the fluids that come out of solution as they cool and mix with cold seawater. Remotely-operated vehicle Jason captured the image in January 2012 during an expedition led by WHOI marine geochemist Chris German to study the deepest-known hydrothermal vents, at the Mid-Cayman Rise in the Caribbean.(Photo courtesy of Chris German, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)