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First methane-powered sea spiders found crawling on the ocean floor
Scientists on the US West Coast say they discovered three previously unknown species of deep-sea spider that could have a rare diet fueled by a common greenhouse gas.
Scientists say they have discovered three previously unknown, unnamed species of sea spider off the US West Coast that could be teaming up with bacteria to thrive off gas bubbling from the seafloor in sparselystudiedmarine habitats known as methane seeps thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface. “Just like you would eat eggs for breakfast, the sea spider grazes the surface of its body, and it munches all those bacteria for nutrition,” said Shana Goffredi, a professor and chair of biology at Occidental College in Los Angeles and the study’s principal investigator. Since the deep-sea ecosystem likely plays such a key role in keeping methane away from Earth’s atmosphere, Goffredi said one day, the same type of microbes found on the Sericosura spiders could be cultured to reduce water contaminants elsewhere.
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