Four new species of deep sea creatures discovered off Scottish coast

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/28/four-new-species-of-deep-sea-creatures-discovered-off-scottish-coast/


Large sea snail, marine worm and two kinds of clam are believed to live near a cold seep vent in north Atlantic

Marine scientists have hailed the discovery of four new species of sea creature in deep ocean waters off the coast of Scotland.

The new species – a large sea snail, two kinds of clam and a marine worm – were found during Marine Scotland surveys around the Rockall plateau in the north Atlantic. Researchers are particularly excited because they believe the creatures’ home is a “cold seep” vent from which methane and other hydrocarbon gases are bubbling.

Complex habitats based on these gases are believed to build up around cold seeps just as they do around hot hydrothermal vents found in mid-ocean ridges. As a result, researchers now hope to find many other new deep-water species unique to the seabed there.

“If true, this is no less important a discovery as the much better known hydrothermal vents found in other parts of the world,” said the WWF Scotland director Lang Banks. “They would give us a unique opportunity to observe some species unlikely to be found anywhere else on the planet.”