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December 6, 2020: Tubeworms

During Dive 16 of the Gulf of Mexico 2017 expedition, the team targeted the western edge of Dauphin Dome, which had a number of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management seismic anomalies and water-column bubble targets detected by NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. We discovered at least 10 new methane seeps with small associated chemosynthetic communities — like the dense bushes of tubeworms shown here. At the seeps and within these bushes were a variety of organisms, including polychaete worms, squat lobsters, snails, mussels, zoanthids, ophiuroids, hydroids, and large swarms of copepods.

Watch a video of one of the “Tubeworm Metropolis” sites visited during the dive.

Credit

Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Gulf of Mexico 2017.