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Exploring the deep ocean floor: Hot springs and strange creatures
The ocean floor is home to many unique communities of plants and animals. Most of these marine ecosystems are near the water surface, such as the Great Barrier Reef, a 2,000-km-long coral formation off the northeastern coast of Australia. Coral reefs, like nearly all complex living communities, depend on solar energy for growth (photosynthesis). The sun's energy, however, penetrates at most only about 300 m below the surfa ...
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