Unknown extremophile species discovered in seas off New Zealand

An international team of scientists has found bizarre creatures living around deep-sea methane seeps off New Zealands eastern coast. Colorful tube worms, bacterial mats, corals, and sponges were among the organisms found living in the extreme environment where methane gas serves as the primary energy source for the community. Scientists say that a symbiotic relationship with bacteria enables such communities to convert methane into "living matter" in the absence of sunlight through a form of chemosynthesis. "New Zealand is one of the few places in the world where at least four types of chemosynthetic habitats occur in close proximity, allowing scientists to address key questions about the patterns of biological distribution that cannot be addressed elsewhere," notes a news release from New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) which co-sponsored the expedition.

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