An expedition to a volcanically active ridge in the Pacific off South America has revealed worms, snails, giant tubeworms and other strange creatures lurking below steamy underwater hot springs.

Land snails climb trees on Socotra’s arid Zahr ... Its trunk stores water, and it grows in these weird and wonderful shapes to anchor itself into the rocks. Some people call it grotesque ...

However, one scientist was so astounded to see pictures on social media of gulls eating "weird and wonderful things" that she launched a citizen science project to study their shifting diets.