Scientists have long studied organisms that thrive around hydrothermal vents. But those native to areas known as cold seeps — where gases like methane and hydrogen sulfite leach from the seafloor at near-freezing temperatures — have been little studied.

Researchers have discovered a highly specialized community of sea creatures living 6 miles beneath the ocean surface—deeper than any found before.

A strange menagerie of creatures living off methane have been found in the darkest depths of the Pacific Ocean.