Plenty of wriggle room: Gigantic carpet of deep-sea tubeworms found thriving in strange methane-infe

[Judi Lynn]

Plenty of wriggle room: Gigantic carpet of deep-sea tubeworms found thriving in strange methane-infested ecosystem
By Ted Thornhill
UPDATED: 11:38 EST, 8 March 2012



[font size=1]'Hydrothermal seep-dwellers': A large tubeworm 'bush' containing more than 14,000 animals
[/font]

Gigantic meadows of tubeworms have been found living 5,900-feet below the ocean surface off the coast of Costa Rica.

Researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California dived down in a submersible and were not only staggered by the size of the tubeworm clusters – but the conditions they were living in.

The marine ecosystem not only contained hydrothermal vents, where hot water surges from the seafloor, but also cold areas containing cracks that seeped large quantities of methane into the water.

Until now, it wasn’t thought that the two systems could live happily side by side.
The researchers coined a new term to describe the ecosystem - a ‘hydrothermal seep’.

More:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2112070/Gigantic-clusters-deep-sea-tubeworms-near-Costa-Rica.html#ixzz1oZGESTAg

[veganlush]

1. OH COOL

At first I thought you were talking about CPAC..

[lastlib]

3. CPAC or the Virginia Legislature.....

pretty apt--a bunch of worms doing a cluster-f**k in the midst of a toxic gas....

[cbayer]

2. Great book recommendation - The Swarm

While fictional, it is incredibly well researched and includes much on this phenomenon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_swarm_us_cover.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swarm_%28novel%29

[saras]

4. Life on earth will be fine if we fuck up - it'll just look like this instead of like monkeys