Those hoping to meet an alien creature may well do better to look beneath the waves than beyond our own atmosphere . Scientists have discovered strange new organisms that infect the primitive forms of life that live deep below the ocean floor . While examining species of bacteria that thrive on the fossil fuel deposits deep inside the Earth - known as archae - they have found a new type of virus that infects them . This graphic shows how the new archael virus changes uses 'docking tips ' - purple area - to infect bacteria . They now believe it may be viruses like this that actually hold the secret that have allowed archae bacteria to adapt to some of the harshest environments on Earth . This is because the virus actively causes one of its own genes to mutate - allowing it to develop new ways of coping with the ecosystem it finds itself in . Life has been discovered nearly a mile and half underground , raising hopes bacteria might be able to survive deep beneath the surface of other planets . Researchers found the single-celled organisms living inside coal beds more than 8,000ft ( 2,440 metres ) below the seabed off the coast of Japan . It is the deepest life has yet been found beneath the ocean . At those depths the spherical microbes have to survive huge pressures that would crush most organisms while having no access to light or oxygen often needed for life . Instead , the bacteria scavenge the chemicals they need to survive by breaking down the hydrocarbon compounds in the coal around them . The findings have raised the prospect that life may still be clinging on deep underground on planets such as Mars , where there was once thought to be flowing water on the surface . Scientists have already speculated that the discovery of archae bacteria deep inside the Earth 's crust has raised prospects of finding life on other planets . Now it seems they may also find viruses like this one living there too . Dr David Valentine , a geoscientist at the University of California Santa Barbara and co-author of the research , said : 'Our study uncovers mechanisms by which viruses and archaea can adapt in this hostile environment . ' Dr Valentine and his colleagues discovered the virus while exploring methane vents 2,800 feet beneath the surface of the ocean in the Santa Monica basin off the coast of California . By pushing tubes into the ocean floor they retrieved sediments and brought the contents back to the lab where they grew the bacteria . When they screened the genomes of the methane-eating bacteria they discovered the genetic fingerprint of the new virus . The researchers , whose work is published in the journal Nature Communications , screened other samples taken from around the world and found similar fingerprints in bacteria from Norway and elsewhere along the coast of California . Dr Blair Paul , lead author of the research and an earth scientist at the University of California Santa Barbara , said : 'The evidence suggests that this viral type is distributed around the globe in deep ocean methane seeps . ' Scientists used submersible Alvin ( left ) to obtain sediment samples ( right ) from the the Santa Monica basin . The sea floor , shown above , is covered in microbial mats of primitive bacteria that are infected with viruses . The researchers also found that a small genetic element - known as a diversity-generating retroelement - was able to accelerate mutation of a specific part of the virus 's own genome . Dr Paul added : 'The target of guided mutation -- the tips of the virus that make first contact when infecting a cell -- is similar . 'But the ability to mutate those tips is an offensive countermeasure against the cell 's defenses , a move that resembles a molecular arms race . ' The researchers also found similar guided mutation elements in the archae bacteria living under the ocean floor themselves . Tiny bacteria known as nanoarchaea targetted four distinct genes . Dr Valentine said : 'The cell is choosing to modify certain proteins . The image above shows a ridge covered in microbial mats on the ocean floor of the Santa Monica basin . 'It 's doing its own protein engineering . While we do n't yet know what those proteins are being used for , learning about the process can tell us something about the environment in which these organisms thrive . ' The findings suggest that life living beneath the ocean floor and in the cracks of rocks deep below the surface could be far more diverse than previously thought . It is thought that there may even be more biomass living inside the Earth than on its surface . Matt Kane , program director for the National Science Foundation 's Division of Environmental Biology , said : 'Life far beneath the Earth 's subsurface is an enigma . 'By probing deep into our planet , these scientists have discovered new information about Earth 's microbes and how they evolve . '
New archeal virus infects primitive bacteria living off methane underground . The virus has genes that speed up its own mutation rate helping it to adapt . Comment: They discovered the virus in samples taken from beneath the Santa Monica Basin off the coast of California but say the viruses live around the world .