Mid-ocean ridges-vast mountain ranges on the sea floor where new oceanic crust is generated-contain numerous hydrothermal vents that input heat and a suite of chemical compounds into the ocean from Earth's interior. Here, myriad microorganisms with peculiar metabolisms take advantage of extreme chemical gradi-rnents, though humans have sampled only a small minority of such environments. German et al. discovered several new vents in the western Caribbean along the Mid-Cayman Rise-a unique, slow-moving ridge tectonically isolated from major mid-ocean ridges. One site, which the researchers named after deep-sea explorer Jacques Piccard, is the deepest hydrothermalrnfield yet discovered (～5000 m below sea level).
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