Red cusk-eels found congregating at methane seep off Chile https://phys.org/news/2025-10-commercially-important-fish-congregating-methane.html Paper by Lisa Levin et al. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecy.70237

"A team of scientists discovered dozens of red #CuskEels embedded in a bushy thicket of #tubeworms at a #methane seep... the #fish may have been receiving a parasite cleaning from resident spider #crabs... #MethaneSeeps are where methane and hydrogen sulfide emerge from the seafloor... they provide food for #microbes converting the leaking chemicals into energy"

Sea spiders found farming methane-eating #microbes in cultivated biofilm https://phys.org/news/2025-06-sea-spiders-farming-methane-microbes.html

Diverse, epibiotic #methanotrophs serve as a source of nutrition for #DeepSea methane seep Sericosura. By Bianca Dal Bó et al. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501422122

"#MethaneSeeps are areas of the seafloor where #methane forms flourishing ecosystems... 3 species of #SeaSpiders were discovered to host dense layers of CH4-consuming microbes on their exoskeletons... and graze upon them with specialized mouthparts"

Nearly 500 species of #DeepSea dwellers documented at Costa Rican methane seeps https://phys.org/news/2025-02-species-deep-sea-dwellers-documented.html

A faunal inventory of #MethaneSeeps on the Pacific margin of #CostaRica: Charlotte Seid et al. https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/134385/

"marine biologists have documented the highest known count of deep-sea species living in methane seeps off Costa Rica's Pacific coast... Of the documented species, at least 58 are entirely new to science"

#NewSpecies #Animals #Invertebrates

Scientists document rich #biodiversity along underexplored Chilean coastline https://phys.org/news/2024-12-scientists-document-rich-biodiversity-underexplored.html #DeepSea

"scientists on board a recent #SchmidtOceanInstitute #RVFalkorToo expedition surveyed nearly 20 #MethaneSeeps, some of which are new discoveries, and four submarine canyon systems previously never before seen by humans... They found an abundance of #animals, including possibly 60 #NewSpecies or more, living in surprisingly diverse ecosystems off the Chilean coast"

Marine Biologists Discover Remarkable New Species of #DeepSea Worm https://www.sci.news/biology/pectinereis-strickrotti-12744.html

A remarkable new deep-sea nereidid (Annelida: Nereididae) with gills https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0297961

"in 2018 the team was able to return to #CostaRica’s #MethaneSeeps with #Alvin. On a dive to the same spot the worm was first sighted, Dr. Strickrott was astounded to encounter six or more individuals... For some reason, the #worms were much less skittish than they were in 2009"