Carbon-13 depletion in a hydrothermal vent mussel: suggestion of a chemosynthetic food source.
Tissues of a mytilid mussel from the Clambake I hydrothermal vent in the Galápagos Rift zone are strikingly depleted in carbon-13 relative to the tissues of other marine organisms. The stable carbon isotope composition of this mussel suggests that chemoautotrophic bacteria present in the hydrothermal waters are a major food source for filter-feeding organisms in this abyssal environment.
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