Cold seeps
Cold Seeps of the Gulf of Mexico
Mussels, tube worms, and other seep animals harbor endosymbiotic chemosynthetic bacteria in their tissues.
Cold Seeps!
All about cold seeps and why they are important deep-sea environments
About GoM cold seeps
Cold Seeps of the GoM
The Gulf of Mexico harbors the highest concentration of cold seeps on the planet. These seeps result from an ancient shallow inland sea that supported massive amounts of algae that were eventually deposited on the seafloor. These organic deposits have been breaking down over time and seeping out of the seafloor, supporting diverse chemoautotrophic communities. These areas of seepage are called "cold seeps" because they are not a result of hydrothermal processes like those at spreading ridges. Map from Fisher et al., 2007