The latest update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species highlights how human activities are pushing uniquely adapted creatures toward extinction.
Deep-sea mining, in particular, poses a grave risk to molluscs living around hydrothermal vents.
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According to a recent assessment, two-thirds of the hundreds of mollusc species found exclusively at deep-sea vents are now threatened with extinction.
These snails, limpets, and clams have evolved to survive in crushing depths where water can reach 450°C.
Mining exploration and extraction stir up sediments that smother these animals.
One species, the snail Lirapex felix, is now classified as critically endangered due to mining in the Indian Ocean.
However, more than 30 vent species remain safe because they inhabit marine protected areas where mining is banned.
This includes Provanna exquisita, a snail with an ornate shell that lives only in the Mariana Arc of Fire National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific Ocean.
“This global assessment reveals that [vent] molluscs are one of the most highly threatened of all animal groups,” said Prof Julia Sigwart of Senckenberg Nature Research, the IUCN Red List partner that coordinated the assessment.
“It provides important information as the International Seabed Authority meets in Jamaica this month.”
The IUCN previously voted for a moratorium on deep-sea mining in 2021.
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