Another title for this post could be: "Musseling up in shallow waters".
Here's the article that inspired it:
A New Creature Emerges From a Forest Drowned by the Gulf of Mexico
"Dr. Distel and his colleagues discovered the mussel while they were investigating an ancient underwater forest off the coast of Alabama. During the last ice age, bald cypresses grew in what was then a swamp a hundred miles from the ocean. Then, sometime between 45,000 and 70,000 years ago, as sea levels rose, the trees were swallowed by the advancing sea. Swirling sands wrapped the dead trees in a natural sarcophagus. For millenniums, all was still in the forest, until heavy waves stirred up by one of the hurricanes of 2004 scooped away the sand. Fishermen were startled to discover trees on the otherwise featureless bottom of the Gulf of Mexico 10 miles from dry land, and a journalist, Ben Raines, helped bring the site to scientists’ attention.
Since then, the ancient wood has provided a splendid buffet for organisms of all sorts, and Dr. Distel and his colleagues have been collecting and characterizing them as fast as they can. The wood won’t last forever, and the forest could be buried again by another big storm. But the scientists believe that this unusual environment could host organisms with unsuspected talents. Dr. Distel’s main focus is shipworms, a group of clams that tunnel through waterlogged wood, and that may be a source for new antibiotics."
Click here to learn more about the mussels and the forest and the picture above.
No comments:
Post a Comment