Editing 2872: Hydrothermal Vents

{{comic
| number    = 2872
| date      = December 25, 2023
| title     = Hydrothermal Vents
| image     = hydrothermal vents 2x.png
| imagesize = 330x459px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Benthic Santas weren't even discovered until the 1970s, but many scientists now believe Christmas may have originally developed around hydrothermal vents and only later migrated to the surface.
}}

==Explanation==
This [[:Category:Christmas|Christmas comic]] was released on {{w|Christmas Day}} 2023, in the morning (at least in [[Randall]]'s timezone in Boston). It is the second Christmas comic using [[:Category:Facts|Facts]], an Ocean Fact in this comic. The first of these was released six years earlier, also on Christmas Day in comic [[1933: Santa Facts]]. In the world above the surface of the sea, {{w|Santa Claus}} had just finished his annual trip around the world when this comic was posted.

The comic claims that there are "{{wiktionary|benthic}} Santas", meaning Santas that deliver gifts {{w|Benthic zone|to the seafloor}}. The joke here is that all Santas may be drawn to [[1620: Christmas Settings|go down chimneys]] by their very existence, and that {{w|hydrothermal vent}}s have {{w|Aggressive mimicry|evolved}} to trick undersea Santa into entering them, believing they were real chimneys, and thus getting killed and digested by the vents as seen in the comic. This is not an entirely unknown {{w|Pitcher plant|digestive mechanism}}, although the depicted version goes beyond all known biological processes. This comic is [[2559: December 25th Launch|one of]] the darker-themed Christmas comics, compared to the usual merry xmas comics.

There are many things that are very strange mentioned. There is little to no evidence that actual humans live down deep in the sea, and fish and other undersea creatures are unlikely to know what "Santa" is or understand the concept of Christmas, so it is unclear what the exact ecological niche of "benthic Santas" might be. The comic shows the remains of several "Santas", suggesting that there may be multiple members of this 'Santa' species, in contrast to some assertions in the literature that there is only one (although this proliferation might also help explain the many Santas who appear on street corners, shopping malls, etc.). It is also possible that there is just one extant specimen Santa at any time (perhaps or perhaps not of the specifically subsea variety), whose death invokes the spontaneous appearance of [https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/Slayer a replacement], or causes (clauses?) another transformation into the 'santa' form, {{w|Thalassoma_bifasciatum#Sex_change|through socially-mediated dimorphism}}, from a population of initially non-santaform individuals.

The title text may be referring to {{w|abiogenesis}}, the origin of life. It was thought non-living matter combined into living cells in shallow water through the energy supplied from the sun and lightning. At least, amino acids can be synthesized this way, as proven by the {{w|Miller–Urey experiment}}. A new explanation places the origin of life on hydrothermal vents, as they are rich in chemicals, and rocks there serve as catalysts, with energy coming from earth's heat. Either way, forms of life are known to migrate between environments to fill new (or vacated) niches, after having been established in another. The current residents of {{w|hydrothermal vents#Black_smokers|'black smokers'}} include creatures (like shrimps, worms and crabs) that are known elsewhere, but could theoretically repopulate the surface if there were ever further mass extinctions across the uppermost layers of the real world, as there have been in prior times.

The 1970s timeframe likely refers to the discovery in 1977 of hydrothermal vent ecosystems near the Galapagos Rift, which formed the basis of this new theory of abiogenesis. By suggesting that the "benthic Santas" were part of this discovery, the comic implies that a key aspect of Christmas folklore might also have its roots in these deep-sea ecosystems.

This was the second time in three years that Santa is killed in Randall's Christmas comics, the first being [[2559: December 25th Launch]].

==Transcript==
:[An undersea landscape is shown. A rock formation goes up from the the middle part op the bottom of the panel. The top of the formation has five "hot-smoker" chimneys of different heights, almost like a hand with the thumb to the right, but the middle finger being the shortest and the "index finger" being somewhat longer than all the others. From all five chimneys thick gray smoke is emitted. The smoke rises almost vertically to start from all five, and the four to the left have their smoke combine rather early and it bulges to the left. The rightmost chimney's smoke bends to the right and only merges with the combined smoke from the others at the top right. Below the chimneys their interior in the rock formation is indicated with dotted lines and the inside of these chimneys are thus displayed. At the bottom all five merge into a large cavity (shown with dotted lines) inside the rock formation. In this cavity there is a liquid in which several items float around, most notably two Santa Claus hats and two large bones surrounded by five smaller blobs of material and several smaller specks. On the outside on the rock formation grow four types of sea-life, a sponge and some sea lilies or the like, one on the left side and three on the right. To the left two fish are swimming near the rock and close to it on the right there is an octopus. There are three labels with lines pointing to the smoke, to the vents, and to the cavity in the rock formation containing the Santa hats and fragments.]
:Top label: Smoke
:Middle label: Chimneys
:Bottom label: Santas being digested

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Ocean fact: Hydrothermal vent black smokers actually evolved as predatory chimney mimics to feed on benthic Santas.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Facts]]
[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Animals]]