Macrobenthic infaunal communities associated with deep-sea hydrocarbon seeps in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Species Distribution and Population Connectivity of Deep-Sea Mussels at Hydrocarbon Seeps in the Gulf of Mexico

Hydrocarbon seepage is widespread and patchy in the Gulf of Mexico, and six species of symbiont containing bathymodiolin mussels are found on active seeps over wide and overlapping depth and geographic ranges. We use mitochondrial genes to discriminate among the previously known and a newly discovered species and to assess the connectivity among populations of the same species in the northern G...

Diversity of functional genes for methanotrophs in sediments associated with gas hydrates and hydrocarbon seeps in the Gulf of Mexico.

Methanotrophs are ubiquitous in soil, fresh water and the open ocean, but have not been well characterized in deep-sea hydrocarbon seeps and gas hydrates, where methane is unusually abundant. Here we report the presence of new functional genes for the aerobic oxidation of methane by methanotrophs in marine sediments associated with gas hydrates and hydrocarbon seeps in the Gulf of Mexico. Sampl...

Epizooic metazoan meiobenthos associated with tubeworm and mussel aggregations from cold seeps of the northern Gulf of Mexico

The abundance and higher taxonomic composition of epizooic metazoan meiobenthic communities associated with mussel and tubeworm aggregations of hydrocarbon seeps at Green Canyon, Atwater Valley, and Alaminos Canyon in depths between 1400 and 2800 m were studied and compared to the infaunal community of non-seep sediments nearby. Epizooic meiofaunal abundances of associated meiobenthos living in...

Microbial Diversity in Sediments and Gas Hydrates Associated with Cold Seeps in the Gulf of Mexico

Cold seeps of the deep Gulf of Mexico: Community structure and biogeographic comparisons to Atlantic equatorial belt seep communities

Quantitative collections of tubewormand mussel-associated communities were obtained from 3 cold seep sites in the deep Gulf of Mexico: in Atwater Valley at 1890m depth, in Alaminos Canyon at 2200m depth, and from the Florida Escarpment at 3300m depth. A total of 50 taxa of macroand megafauna were collected including 2 species of siboglinid tubeworms and 3 species of bathymodiolin mussels. In ge...