>Wasn't it just a few years ago they found microbes underwater where there wasn't any sunlight? It sounds like you're talking about the life around hydrotherma

>Wasn't it just a few years ago they found microbes underwater where there wasn't any sunlight? It sounds like you're talking about the life around hydrothermal vents[0], which ultimately depends on chemosynthesis[1]rather than photosynthesis. This has been known since the late 70s, and actually fuels significant macroscopic life[2], not just microorganisms. There's also deepwater life surviving off of things like marine snow[3], which is nutrient carrying detrius from the surface, or whale falls. But both of those ultimately depend on photosynthesis that happens near the surface. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrothermal_vent#Biology_of_hydrothermal_vents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrothermal_vent#Biology_of_h... [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemosynthesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemosynthesis [2]See giant tube worm, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riftia_pachyptila https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riftia_pachyptila [3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_snow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_snow