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Among the first images sent via Marshall Swartz's Ethernet system were these from the Guaymas Basin, more than a mile below the surface of the Gulf of California. The presence of living communities indicates that methane is being released from the seafloor. a) a large crab on a crusty mound of carbonate excreted by methane-eating bacteria; b) an octopus and starfish forage in an area crisscrossed by clam trails; c) patches of carbonate produced by bacteria trap methane below them, making the patches good habitat for scraggly clusters of tube worms; d) brittle stars twinkle among clams, which have dug into the sediment and left their two siphons (which appear as side-by-side holes) protruding into the water. (Photos by CTD Cam on NSF-funded OASIS cruise, courtesy of D. Lizarralde, A. Soule, and J. Seewald, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)[back]
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