Methane Ice Worms: Hesiocaeca methanicola Colonizing Fossil Fuel Reserves |
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Authors: | C R Fisher I R MacDonald R Sassen C M Young S A Macko S Hourdez R S Carney S Joye E McMullin |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Ingegneria Chimica, University of Rome La Sapienza, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy;(2) S Quaker Ave 4514, Tulsa, OK, 74105, USA |
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Abstract: | During a research cruise in July 1997 in the Gulf of Mexico we discovered a gas hydrate approximately 1 m thick and over
2 m in diameter which had recently breached the sea floor at a depth of 540 m. The hydrate surface visible from the submarine
was considerably greater than that of any other reported hydrate. Two distinct color bands of hydrate were present in the
same mound, and the entire exposed surface of the hydrate was infested (2500 individuals/m2) with 2 to 4 cm-long worms, since described as a new species, Hesiocaeca
methanicola, in the polychaete family Hesionidae (Desbruyères and Toulmond 1998). H.
methanicola tissue stable isotope values are consistent with a chemoautotrophic food source. No evidence of chemoautotrophic symbionts
was detected, but geochemical data support the presence of abundant free living bacteria on the hydrate. The activities of
the polychaetes, grazing on the hydrate bacteria and supplying oxygen to their habitats, appears to contribute to the dissolution
of hydrates in surface sediments.
Received: 16 August 1999 / Accepted in revised form: 19 January 2000 |
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