See also: Extremophile
The ocean is home to a variety of marine organisms known as extremophiles - organisms that thrive in extreme conditions of temperature, pressure, and light availability. Extremophiles inhabit many unique habitats in the ocean, such as hydrothermal vents, black smokers, cold seeps, hypersaline regions, and sea ice brine pockets. Some scientists have speculated that life may have evolved from hydrothermal vents in the ocean.In hydrothermal vents and similar environments, many extremophiles acquire energy through chemoautotrophy, using chemical compounds as energy sources, rather than light as in photoautotrophy. Hydrothermal vents enrich the nearby environment in chemicals such as elemental sulfur, H, HS, Fe, and methane. Chemoautotrophic organisms, primarily prokaryotes, derive energy from these chemicals through redox reactions. These organisms then serve as food sources for higher trophic levels, forming the basis of unique ecosystems.
Several different metabolisms are present in hydrothermal vent ecosystems. Many marine microorganisms, including Thiomicrospira, Halothiobacillus, and Beggiatoa, are capable of oxidizing sulfur compounds, including elemental sulfur and the often toxic compound HS. HS is abundant in hydrothermal vents, formed through interactions between seawater and rock at the high temperatures found within vents. This compound is a major energy source, forming the basis of the sulfur cycle in hydrothermal vent ecosystems. In the colder waters surrounding vents, sulfur-oxidation can occur using oxygen as an electron acceptor; closer to the vents, organisms must use alternate metabolic pathways or utilize another electron acceptor, such as nitrate. Some species of Thiomicrospira can utilize thiosulfate as an electron donor, producing elemental sulfur. Additionally, many marine microorganisms are capable of iron-oxidation, such as Mariprofundus ferrooxydans. Iron-oxidation can be oxic, occurring in oxygen-rich parts of the ocean, or anoxic, requiring either an electron acceptor such as nitrate or light energy. In iron-oxidation, Fe(II) is used as an electron donor; conversely, iron-reducers utilize Fe(III) as an electron acceptor. These two metabolisms form the basis of the iron-redox cycle and may have contributed to banded iron formations.
At another extreme, some marine extremophiles inhabit sea ice brine pockets where temperature is very low and salinity is very high. Organisms trapped within freezing sea ice must adapt to a rapid change in salinity up to 3 times higher than that of regular seawater, as well as the rapid change to regular seawater salinity when ice melts. Most brine-pocket dwelling organisms are photosynthetic, therefore, these microenvironments can become hyperoxic, which can be toxic to its inhabitants. Thus, these extremophiles often produce high levels of antioxidants.