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![This interesting entity is actually a one celled organism, a protozoan. The size of this one is misleading for a one celled entity; it could fit in the palm of your hand.](http://www.scienceiq.com/Images/FactsImages/Xenophyophora_600.jpg)
Yet within these vents microbes thrive. In fact, as soon as a vent opens up, even if it is hundreds of miles (kilometers) away from its nearest neighbor, it's soon teaming with microbes. One key to their survival may be that they are chemosynthetic.
In general, the life process begins with plants and their ability to use the energy of the sun to make food, what we call photosynthesis. Some animals live off the plants, while other animals eat the plant eaters. But no sunlight reaches the deep-sea rifts. The microbes instead create energy by working with the chemicals that flow out of the vents. This process of chemosynthesis allows them to make food and survive. As to how they can withstand the pressure and the intense heat of the water, scientists have a way to go to figure that out.