Those Helpful Creatures of the Deep

by Liz Colville

Deep-sea bugs, not at all pictured, ate much of the natural gas that seeped from the Deepwater Horizon spill, which is why that gas seemed to have magically disappeared almost completely around September.

These selfless bacteria are “a natural biofilter that regularly dine on natural seeps of methane, or natural gas, and related chemicals worldwide.” The delicious gases caused the methane alien population around the spill to grow “exponentially,” those tiny gluttons, and now, researchers say, only 0.01% of the methane from the spill remains in the ocean.

But…the birds.