# Deep Sea Animals **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 6, 2007, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-sea-animals/425393 "2007-11-06T10:46:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Incref](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@Incref](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incref)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-sea-animals/425393/1 "2007-11-06T10:46:37Z")
A question has been on my mind for some time now, if there are animals, specifically tube worms, crabs and shrimp which live at incredible pressures and heats next to volcanic vents what stops them from cooking? Sounds silly, but what would happen to them if you put them in a pressure cooker (to the perfect heat and pressure) on the provisos you could keep them alive until that time? Would it be an ideal environment? If they were dead could you fry them until they were cooked? Pretty much what I am asking is that do they have to be alive to ‘survive’ or is it in their cells not to be cooked? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-sea-animals/425393/2 "2007-11-06T11:12:33Z")
Although they probably do experience and survive temperatures we might find uncomfortable or damaging, I don’t think most of these animals actually live in the boiling hot conditions - they inhabit the very narrow zone between the boiling hot vent and the surrounding icy cold water, or in the case of animals that can move about, maintain a suitable body temp by skipping back and forth between the two temperature zones. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-sea-animals/425393/3 "2007-11-06T11:33:43Z")
The key phrase in your question is “next to volcanic vents”. The vents themselves spew out really, really hot water (up to 400 deg C), but they do so into an ocean full of water barely above freezing point. Temperatures away from the vent fall rapidly. The critters that live in the hottest water are [Pompeii Worms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii_Worm). They stick their butt in water upto 80 deg C, but their head and gills get by in water that’s nicely warm at 22 deg C. How they are able to survive this ass scorching is unknown to science. The pressure is a separate issue. It doesn’t really affect seaq creatures. The pressure inside their bodies is the same as the ambient water pressure. Of course if you were to fish one out of the sea, it would explode with hilarious consequenses. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-sea-animals/425393/4 "2007-11-06T13:50:49Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] … if you were to fish one out of the sea, it would explode with hilarious consequenses. [/QUOTE] For that to be so, their bodies would have to include some significantly compressible substance. What would that be? ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-sea-animals/425393/5 "2007-11-06T14:31:27Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] For that to be so, their bodies would have to include some significantly compressible substance. What would that be? [/QUOTE] WAG, but [cavitation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavitation) of gases in the organism may cause some harmful effects. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-sea-animals/425393/6 "2007-11-07T00:35:36Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] For that to be so, their bodies would have to include some significantly compressible substance. What would that be? [/QUOTE] Air. Boney fishes have air bladders that they use for bouyancy. Bring them to the surface too fast and the air expands and the bladder ruptures, quite often taking the gut with it. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-sea-animals/425393/7 "2007-11-07T01:39:00Z")
[QUOTE=Blake] Boney fishes have air bladders that they use for bouyancy. Bring them to the surface too fast and the air expands and the bladder ruptures [/QUOTE] Right - but I thought the creature in question was a Pompeii worm. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2007, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-sea-animals/425393/8 "2007-11-07T02:04:11Z")
The worms would likely not “explode”, but I have seen fish very puffed up, with the bladder out their mouths and quite dead.