Large benthic microbial communities in sulphide biota under Peru–Chile Subsurface Countercurrent

Abstract

BENTHIC observations off the coast of Chile have consistently disclosed the presence of large coherent microbial communities living at depths of about 50–280 m in the H₂S-containing sediments of the shelf in contact with the deoxygenated waters of the Peru–Chile Subsurface Countercurrent (SCC). Similar observations were also made off Peru in 1969 by Gilbert T. Rowe, and in 1976 by G. T. Rowe and John Waterbury of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The microflora, which has only been reported once before in the literature¹, has been known for years by the local fishermen who call them estopa (Spanish for uncleansed wool or fiax) due to the filamentous appearance of its main components. In this report I describe this massive microbial community which includes organisms typical for sulphide biota, and may have unsuspected importance in the ecology and economy of the sea off western South America.