Microbial Mat
Video courtesy of Oregon State University, NOAA OER, NOAA OCNMS, Ocean Exploration Trust, NA-121. Download larger version (mp4, 44 MB).

This 50-meter (16-foot) diameter microbial mat was incredibly soft and covered by both bacteria as well as thousands and thousands of tiny snails, some of which were even covered by bacteria themselves. This soft and expansive mat is a “young” habitat in contrast to the expansive carbonate discussed earlier in this log. Pretty amazing that these two seeps are both at the same depth and close together...and yet entirely different.

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