Hydrothermal vent fauna of the Galapagos Rift: Updated species list with new records

Abstract

The sighting of giant bivalves and tubeworms at the Rose Garden vent field on the Galapagos Rift in 1977 marked the discovery of hydrothermal vents, a turning point for modern biology. The following decade saw a flurry of taxonomic descriptions of vent endemic species from the first vents. With the finding of high-temperature black smokers on the East Pacific Rise, exploration shifted away from Galapagos. A faunal list of Galapagos vents with 65 species was published in 1991, then updated to 74 species in 2006. Since then, few expeditions returned to the Galapagos Rift. Here, we revisited several Galapagos vents including recently confirmed high-temperature sites and inactive sulfide mounds. From our collecting efforts and observations, as well as revisions from the literature, we update the faunal list to 92 species including 15 new records, restricted to obvious vent associates. Accurate regional faunal lists are important for understanding the biogeography of vent fauna, and our list will also be valuable for setting management strategies.