Photo/Charles Fisher, Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License. Click for link.
The New York Times just published a wonderful look at the thinking of scientists about the fate of the many cold seeps in the Gulf of Mexico, something I’ve been pondering myself a fair bit over recent weeks. I’ve explored the venerable tube worms of cold-seeps before here before, but never in regard to rogue petrochemicals. The communities at these seeps live on oil and other hydrocarbons naturally seeping from the ocean floor, so whether a larger dose will harm them is an interesting question. The consensus for now seems to be probably yes, but we really don’t know.
Whatever you do, don’t miss the beautiful slide show of this fascinating and under-publicized ecosystem. Watch for the orange bacteria, a spectacular black coral, and for brittle stars that put the Lacoön to shame.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
thought of you when i read this today! i’d like to know more about this little guy:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128061773&sc=fb&cc=fp
I’ll see what I can do!