Marine life in the ocean trench?

Answer 1

when the ocean floors collide together as one.

There are may specialized species that live in ocean trenches. I am not sure what tectonic plates colliding has to do with this as that sort of movement takes thousands of years to move a very short distance (about as fast as your fingernail grows) and that has no impact on life in those areas.

Life

You may think that deep sea trenches are impossible to habitat. You may think that trenches contain nothing spectacular and are just deep, dark, lifeless pits; but you are wrong if you think that. Oceanic trenches are actually full of life. There are actually over 300 species unique to ocean trenches. The majority of species live on the nutrients that hydrothermal vents provide.

Down in the depths of deep sea trenches, where light cannot penetrate, there are no plants because they cannot photosynthesize. Because there are no plants, they cannot be the base of the food chain as they are up on the surface and in shallower waters. The creatures down at this depth rely on a sort of bacteria. These bacteria convert the sulfur from hydrothermal vents into energy. This process is called chemosynthesis.

These bacteria are the base of the food chain so larger organisms eat the bacteria, larger creatures eat them, and even larger creatures eat them. Not all creatures rely on actually having to eat the bacteria. Some creatures, such as the tube worm, actually have bacteria living inside them. The creatures offer the bacteria a home and in return, the bacteria give the creature nutrients.

How do these creatures sea at such depths? Well, some creatures have developed an ability called bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is the ability to produce light from the body. An example of this is a firefly. Fireflies glow with their back ends. Down in the deep, bioluminescence is a little more essential. Fireflies don't use it for sight, but deep sea creatures do. Bioluminescence in the deep is also used for attracting prey, communication, attracting mates, and deterring predators. Some creatures have developed different methods of seeing in the dark. Some have giant eyes to maximize their ability to see.

Some creatures are actually just blind. How do they catch their food? Some creatures, such as the tripod fish, have developed unique ways of hunting. The tripod fish has long prong-like structures on the ends of its fins. This allows it to "stand" on the ocean floor. The tripod fish has long pectoral fins that resemble antennas. These pectoral fins pick up the vibrations of other organisms and allow it to know where its prey will be.

Another thing that these creatures have to deal with is the extreme pressure. Up on the surface, animals like cats and dogs and even fish (and us), have air cavities in their bodies. If we were to go down to the pressure that these creatures live at, the air cavities would be crushed. The creatures of the deep have adapted by not having any air cavities. Their bodies are one hundred percent liquid or solid. Even fish have air cavities for moving up and down. How do they move up and down then? The answer lies in their livers. They have oily livers that let them float up and soft flesh that keeps them down. They naturally stay in place. They don't have to keep swimming up or down to stay in place because they are neutrally buoyant.

One more danger for the creatures: the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide. This gas is one of the major ingredients of the water that is spewing out of these vents. This gas also is deadly to the creatures that live within feet of a major source of it. The only reason they survive is because of the chemosynthesizing bacteria. The bacteria keep the hydrogen sulfide out of the organisms' systems by absorbing it. Hydrothermal vents present another problem along with the toxic gas: the metal particles. These particles would normally jam any sea creatures' gills and make it impossible for them to breathe. These creatures aren't even affected by it, the question is, how? There are several theories as to how. One is that they have a certain type of mucus that stops the metal particles from entering their systems. Another is that they have a sort of magnetic system that attracts the metal particles to another part of their bodies. Whatever the correct reason, it works and the creatures are able to thrive.

Studying these creatures has been a difficulty to biologists for years. The reason for the inability to study the creatures is the pressure. You cannot just bring up a sample from the deep and expect it to remain intact. The creatures get a severe case of the bends and their insides kind of explode. When the bodies of the creatures experience an extreme change in pressure, they aren't used to the new pressure and so they rapidly expand. This causes their insides to inflate, and it kills them. The other problem is obviously the cost of getting down to the trenches.

Scientist Günter Wächtershäuser believes that life actually originated in deep sea trenches. He believes that it all started at hydrothermal vents. His reasoning, although a little (a lot) bit more complex, was basically that hydrothermal vents had the nutrients needed for life to start. This theory, although not as likely as others, is still one to be considered.