Abyssal Ocean Ecosystem: Chemosynthetic Food Web (2D)

This 2D canvas simulation models a hadal-zone food web built entirely on chemosynthesis: chemosynthetic bacteria at the vent mouth oxidize hydrogen sulfide and methane instead of harvesting sunlight, symbiotic tube worms and mussels host those same bacteria and graze on the surrounding mat, mobile grazers such as vent crabs and shrimp feed on the worms and mussels, and top predators hunt the grazers — a four-level Lotka-Volterra-style cascade integrated with RK4 rather than a scripted animation. Vent activity sets the energy ceiling for the whole chain while depth scales every level's metabolism and fragility, so a weak, deep vent supports a thin, brittle web while a strong, shallower one supports a dense, resilient one. Watch the live flow diagram and population graph to see how a change at the base of the chain — or a collapse at the top — ripples through every level above and below it.