Newfound worm's world under the sea.From a distance, the glinting deposit of ice-like hydrate hydrate (hī`drāt), chemical compound that contains water. A common hydrate is the familiar blue vitriol, a crystalline form of cupric sulfate. Chemically, it is cupric sulfate pentahydrate, CuSO4·5H2O. jutting jut v. jut·ted, jut·ting, juts v.intr. To extend outward or upward beyond the limits of the main body; project: from the mud bottom of the Gulf of Mexico Noun 1. Gulf of Mexico - an arm of the Atlantic to the south of the United States and to the east of Mexico Golfo de Mexico Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean - the 2nd largest ocean; separates North and South America on the west from Europe and Africa on the east was most remarkable for its size. Such deposits--crystallized structures combining water and hydrocarbon gases-typically only peek 25 through crevices in the ocean floor This outcropping (right top), spotted July 15, cuts a swath the size of a refrigerator. As their research submersible moved closer, Charles Fisher and his colleagues noticed that the canary yellow hydrate was crawling with pastel pink animals 1 to 2 inches long (digitally modified photo, light bottom). "We were astounded a·stound tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise. [From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, , " says Fisher, a physiological ecologist at Pennsylvania State University Pennsylvania State University, main campus at University Park, State College; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1855, opened 1859 as Farmers' High School. in State College. The widespread hydrates of methane and other gases have been eyed as a possible source of fuel (SN: 11/9/96, p. 298), not of fauna. The pink creepers creep·er n. 1. One that creeps. 2. Botany A plant that spreads by means of stems that creep. 3. See cradle. 4. A grappling device for dragging bodies of water, such as lakes or rivers. turned out to be flat, segmented marine worms known as polychaetes. With their brushlike appendages (below), "they look like centipedes centipedes many-legged members of the class Chilopoda of the phylum Arthropoda. They are relatively harmless, but some of the 1500 species can inflict a painful bite to humans and it seems reasonable to assume that bites to animals could happen. at first, " says Andre Toulmond of the Observatoire Oceanologique de Roscoff in France. Researchers are now studying some of the retrieved worms, which Toulmond says appear to be an unknown species from a familiar marine worm family (Hesionidae). The hydrate worms are probably as common as the deposits themselves, says Fisher They've just been hidden under sediment. Spying the worms on the exposed and burrow-filled hydrate was like "seeing the underside of a log, " says oceanographer Ian MacDonald of Texas A&M University in College Station. He and Fisher have since picked out the occasional pink worm on earlier photos of other hydrates. In the last 2 decades, researchers have found life around other unusual deep-sea habitats, including hydrothermal vents and oil seeps. Fisher usually studies tube worms (SN: 9128196, p. 201), which were also present near the hydrate (top photo, left side). Like these organisms, the hydrate worms are no doubt living off bacteria that can feed on the hydrocarbons within the deposit, says Fisher "What we don't know yet is whether bacteria are living on the hydrate, in the hydrate, on the worm, or in the worm." Something else is no doubt living off the worms. Various fish and other organisms probably regard these worms as lunch, says MacDonald. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion