A deep-sea expedition has revealed an active underwater volcano off the Pacific coast of Canada, covered with thousands, possibly up to a million, giant eggs. The site, once thought extinct, is now emerging as an unexpected hotspot of life.
Researchers had expected a cold, inactive seamount. Instead, they found a warm, living environment shaped by mineral-rich fluids. This heat creates conditions that allow marine life to gather and thrive in a place that should have been mostly barren.
A Volcano That Was Not As “Dead” As Expected
The seamount rises about 3,600 feet (1,100 meters) above the seafloor and had been considered inactive. That changed when scientists detected warm fluids venting from the summit.
A 2018 paper reported in Scientific Reports found that these emissions support clusters of deep-sea corals and other organisms. The heat creates a pocket of life in otherwise cold, dark waters, making the underwater volcano stand out from its surroundings. Cherisse Du Preez from Fisheries and Oceans Canada summed it up simply:
“It’s a really special place on top of a really special place,” he wrote in an email to Live Science. “The only previous finding of a Pacific white skate nursery was in the Galapágos and I think was on the order of a dozen or two eggs.”
A Massive Field Of Giant Skate Eggs
What really caught researchers off guard was the sheernumber of eggs. The volcano appears to host between 100,000 and one million eggs from the Pacific white skate (Bathyraja spinosissima). As explained in the same source, each egg measures about 1.5 feet (0.5 meters) and is often called a “mermaid purse” because of its shape.
That is much larger than what was previously seen near the Galápagos Islands, where only a few dozen eggs were found. Researchers also managed to record, for the first time, footage of a Pacific white skate laying eggs in the wild, something that had never been observed before.
Warm Water Gives The Next Generation A Boost
The heat from the volcano seems to play a direct role in reproduction. Skate embryos can take up to four years to develop in deep-sea conditions. The warmer water likely speeds up that process and improves survival. The summit, which is also rich in corals, offers a relatively safe space for young skates before they move deeper.
“The warm water likely speeds up the gestation period of the eggs, resulting in more successful juveniles,” Du Preez stated. “The shallow summit of the seamount is almost a coral garden and a safe nursery for juveniles to grow before they descend to the deep—it’s a win-win.”
Not currently protected, the site could be vulnerable to fishing. Researchers are sticking with it for now, as it’s already giving new insights into life in the deep ocean.
“Further research should focus on identifying and promoting the protection of additional Chondrichthyan deep-sea nurseries, given the continuous expansion of fisheries towards the deep sea and the intrinsic vulnerability of this group of species,” the authors said.
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