Just a heads-up on a term I heard this morning in a radio interview with an oceanographer who dives on Alvin. She explained that vent animals on the ocean floor are able to live due to a process called chemosynthesis in which the organisms digest chemicals. The vents effuse sulfates of some type and the organisms--including white worms two meters long that have bright red gills--are able to digest these sulfates due to the activity of some kind of bacteria indwelling the (in this case) worms. She also mentioned clams the size of dinner plates and shrimp that tasted like sulfur--quite disgusting.

Imagine the power of life! Life from noxious chemicals that would surely kill you and me.

Dear WW: there is a whole new branch of biology, about
"extremophiles" e.g. bacteria living in water close to the
boiling point. Here's a URL giving idea of wide range of
research in progress. Not much fun to browse, but it will show you that bacteria metabolizing sulfur are just one of
a large group of surprising organisms.
http://sg.dir.yahoo.com/Science/Biology/Microbiology/Microorganisms/Extremophiles/

whem i was still in HS, the creek that ran behind the HS i attended was in the news--somebody had found an living organism in the water--it was feeding on the oil sludge residue that the creek was known for.
(this was westchester creek, a barely navigalable bit of water that was banked with oil and coal companies. these commodities were still shipped into the bronx by barge when i was kid)

Life will out... its amazing what can be found living and feeding on what, through out the world.
at the time, it was thought that the organism would help clear up industrial waste, an environmental boon. you know;
Direction to clear rivers/waterways of oil and petrochemical waste: add X quanity of Micro-organism per cubit foot of waterway, wait X weeks, return to crystal clear water

while the organism did live on petro chemical waste/contamintion, they weren't really happy doing so, and they certainly didn't breed and mulitply, and devour the abundant food source quickly.