Within the endemic invertebrate faunas of hydrothermal vents, five biogeographic provinces are recognized. Invertebrates at two Indian Ocean vent fields (Kairei and Edmond) belong to a sixth province, despite ecological settings and invertebrate-bacterial symbioses similar to those of both western Pacific and Atlantic vents. Most organisms found at these Indian Ocean vent fields have evolutionary affinities with western Pacific vent faunas, but a shrimp that ecologically dominates Indian Ocean vents closely resembles its Mid-Atlantic counterpart. These findings contribute to a global assessment of the biogeography of chemosynthetic faunas and indicate that the Indian Ocean vent community follows asymmetric assembly rules biased toward Pacific evolutionary alliances.

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The bacterial endosymbionts of 3 hydrothermal vent mussels from Japanese waters were characterized by transmission electron microscopic (TEM) observation and phylogenetic analyses of 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences. Endosymbionts of Bathymodiolus septemdierum were related to sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (thioautotrophs), while endosymbionts of B. platifrons and B. japonicus were related to methane-oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs). This is the first report of deep-sea mussels containing only methanotrophs (lacking thioautotrophs) from hydrothermal vents. Comparison of methane and hydrogen sulfide concentrations in end-member fluids from deep-sea hydrothermal vents indicated that methane concentrations were much higher in habitats containing Bathymodiolus spp. which harbored only methanotrophs than in other habitats of hydrothermal vent mussels. The known distribution of other mussels containing only methanotrophs has thus far been limited to cold-seep environments with high methane concentrations from the interstitial water. These results suggest that the distribution of methanotrophic symbioses between deep-sea mussels and methanotrophs is strongly influenced by the methane or hydrocarbon concentrations provided from hydrothermal vent and cold-seep activities (or that methane concentration is a possible limiting factor that restricts the distribution of methanotrophy-dependent symbioses in the deep sea).

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Manned submersible studies have delineated a large and actively growing Kuroko-type volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit 400 kilometers south of Tokyo in Myojin Knoll submarine caldera. The sulfide body is located on the caldera floor at a depth of 1210 to 1360 meters, has an area of 400 by 400 by 30 meters, and is notably rich in gold and silver. The discovery of a large Kuroko-type polymetallic sulfide deposit in this arc-front caldera raises the possibility that the numerous unexplored submarine silicic calderas elsewhere might have similar deposits.

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