The orange gas hydrate is home to Hesiocaeca methanicola, a newly discovered species of marine worm found in the Gulf of Mexico in 1997. This lobe of hydrate was exposed on the seafloor. The Deep East Expedition will investigate the life above and in a shallow bed on the Blake Ridge where other lobes of exposed gas hydrates are believed to be located. Image courtesy of Ian MacDonald and NOAA Ocean Explorer
Hooray for ice worms!
Ian was my Master’s advisor at Texas A&M, so I saw a lot of these little guys. Very cool.