Skip to content

Pollution

Deep-water corals in the Gulf of Mexico found fouled by oil

by Louise Murray 01 Dec 2010
Deep-water corals in the Gulf of Mexico found fouled by oil

Seven miles south west of the Deepwater Horizon wellhead a remotely controlled underwater vehicle called Jason discovered oil-fouled dead and damaged corals at 1400 metres deep.

One of 125 research cruises organised to understand what impact the massive 4 million barrel oil spill has had on Gulf of Mexico marine life, the Jason cruise was led by Professor Charles Fisher, a biology professor at Pennsylvania State University.

'We have been studying the deep water corals of the Gulf for over a decade and what we saw at one site near the Deepwater Horizon site was like nothing we had ever seen before,' said Fisher, a veteran of deep water exploration cruises in the Gulf since 1986. 'We discovered a community of coral that has been impacted fairly recently by something very toxic.'

Jason brought back images of fouled dying and recently dead deep-water coral species Madrepora and of the brittlestars (a kind of starfish) that associates with them. 'Many of the colonies appeared recently dead, with no living coral tissue, still covered with decaying material, and also with a notable lack of colonisation by other marine life, as would be expected on coral skeletons that had been dead for long periods of time," Fisher said.

In a month's time laboratory analysis is expected to confirm the presence of toxic oil or dispersant residues from the sediments and/or the coral tissues themselves. Fisher continued, "The proximity of the site to the disaster, the depth of the site, the clear evidence of recent impact, and the uniqueness of the observations all suggest that the impact we have found is linked to the exposure of this community to either oil, dispersant, extremely depleted oxygen, or some combination of these or other water-borne effects resulting from the spill," Fisher said.

Another voyage in a titanium-hulled submersible Alvin, also completed this month, by Samatha Joye of the University of Georgia found oil on the seafloor and brown stuff on the delicate coral sea fans. Many of these deep sea ecosystems have evolved in the presence of natural seeps of oil or gas, but it remains to be seen whether they can rebound from a spill of this magnitude.


Trending Eco-Friendly Clothing

Love My Planet Women's Relaxed Fit Hoodie
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Love My Planet Women's Relaxed Fit Hoodie
Love My Planet women's eco-friendly relaxed fit hoodieSize Guide Centimeters 8 10 12 14 16 18 Bust 84 88 92 97 103 108 Waist 66 70 75 80 85 91 Hips 91 95 99 104 109 116 Bust: Measure around the fullest part of...
£38.00
£38.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Penguins Hate Push-Ups Men's Pullover Hoodie
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Penguins Hate Push-Ups Men's Pullover Hoodie
Penguins Hate Push-Ups men's eco-friendly pullover HoodieSize Guide Centimeters XS S M L XL XXL Height 171 175 179 183 189 195 Chest 86 93 99 104 116 129 Waist 71 76 81 89 99 112 Chest: Measure all round your chest just below...
£38.00
£38.00
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Lightning Bolt Kids Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Earth
Quick Add
Close
Notify me
Notify me
Notify me