Creatures thriving at the hot and cold extremes of the marine environment have amazed scientists who are celebrating the discovery of 500 previously unknown species in the oceans in the past year.

They have been found beneath ice shelves, in the darkest, deepest abysses and in scalding water around hydrothermal vents on the sea bed. In a year of discovery, animals living in and around the oceans have smashed records for distance, numbers and sheer tenacity in the most inhospitable habitats imaginable.

Among the most astonishing discoveries is a shrimp living within inches of the hottest water yet found at the bottom of the oceans. The animals live on a thermal vent at the equatorial floor of the Atlantic Ocean that spews out water and a soup of heavy metals heated to 407C (765F) — more than hot enough to melt lead.

The shrimps dependent on the vent live in a narrow band of water at 60C (140F) and because of swirling currents are frequently washed with water at 80C (176F) or hotter.

Scientists are intrigued about how they survive at such extreme temperatures and are trying to find out why their proteins do not break down.

The shrimp species has not yet been determined. It could be new to science but is very similar to the Rimicaris exoculata shrimp seen at cooler vents.

Creatures in such an extreme environment usually feed on the bacteria that break down, by chemosynthesis, the chemicals poured out from the vents.

Paul Tyler, Professor of Deep Sea Biology at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, said: “The measurement of 407C is challenging the limits of chemistry and physics. We do need to know more about hydrothermal vents.”

At other oceanic extremes scientists discovered dozens of animals, including jellyfish, living beneath ice 2,300ft (700m) thick and 125 miles (200km) from open water.

Among the biggest surprises discovered this year by census takers in the Coral Sea, northeast of Australia, was Neo glyphea neocaledonica, a shrimp previously thought to have died out 50 million years ago. It has been dubbed the “Jurassic Shrimp”.

The biggest marine animal to be discovered was Palinurus barbarae, a rock lobster located off Madagascar. It weighed 4lb 4lb (1.8kg) and its body, excluding legs and pincers, was more than 18in long.

Other previously unknown species include a squid from the mid-Atlantic that rather than simply bite and swallow chunks of prey is thought to be able to chew its food, and Kiwa hirsuta, a furry crab living on a hydrothermal vent 900 miles from Easter Island.

In the Sargasso Sea, 200 zooplankton species, 12 previously unknown, were found three miles beneath the surface while in the air the sooty shearwater broke the record for migratory distance by flying a round trip of 46,000 miles.

Scientists using sonar to track fish were also able to observe the biggest school ever seen. An estimated eight million fish made up the school off the East Coast of the US.

The ten-year Census of Marine Life is in its sixth year and involves 2,000 researchers from 80 countries.

Teeming life

407C temperature of the hottest thermal vent known

78,000 marine species recorded by census since 2000

2,600 number of salmon tagged before leaving rivers for the sea

20,000 types of microbe found in one litre of seawater

46,000 miles flown on migration by sooty shearwater

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