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Hesiocaeca methanicola

*** Shopping-Tip: Hesiocaeca methanicola
{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = ''Hesiocaeca methanicola'' | image = Hesiocaeca methanicola noaa.jpg | image_width = 250px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Annelida | classis = Polychaete Polychaeta | ordo = Phyllodocida | familia = Hesionida | genus = ''Hesiocaeca'' | species = '''''H. methanicola''''' | binomial = ''Hesiocaeca methanicola'' | binomial_authority = Desbruyères & Toulmond, 1998 }} Methane clathrate deposits in the ocean floor have been found to be inhabited by polychaete worms of the species '''''Hesiocaeca methanicola'''''. The worms colonize the methane ice solid and appear to survive by gleaning bacterium bacteria that in turn metabolize the clathrate. In 1997, Charles Fisher, professor of biology at Pennsylvania State University Penn State, discovered this remarkable creature living on mounds of methane ice under half a mile of ocean on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.

External links

- Scientists Discover Methane Ice Worms on Gulf of Mexico Sea Floor
- Methane Ice Worms: Hesiocaeca methanicola. Colonizing Fossil Fuel Reserves
- SpaceRef.com, May 04, 2001: Redefining "Life as We Know it" Category:Annelids