New species found in Gulf of Mexico

A study released earlier this month uncovered 107 new species of organisms living in deep water areas of the Gulf of Mexico. While the majority of discoveries were microscopic, the findings are providing scientists with knowledge of communities more than a half mile below the surface on the ocean floor. “It's a terrific finding for science,” said Paul Sammarco with the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Chauvin. “It helps the understanding of the evolution of organisms.” The report, “Investigations of Chemosynthetic Communities on the Lower Continental Slope of the Gulf of Mexico,” involved researchers reaching areas previously unstudied by using submarines. A manned vehicle, Alvin, and the remotely operated Jason II were used on excursions in 2006 and 2007, with four sites studied at length. Some of the bigger organisms discovered were new species of tube worms, a marine invertebrate that can reach up to 6 feet long and live up to 100 years, said Gregory Boland, biological oceanographer with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. “The tube worms were probably the biggest,” Boland said. “They only grow a few millimeters a year.” Most of the smaller finds include new genera and species of crustaceans. That includes eight genera and 77 species of copepods, one genera and 17 species of ostracods and four species of tanaidacea. Among other discoveries, researchers found one of the largest-known mussel beds in the deep Gulf. Boland, a key researcher on the report, said the organisms are subsisting in unique ecosystems called chemosynthetic communities hidden in the depths of the Gulf.