‘Seeping’ Fish

For most marine life, methane seeps are nasty. Toxic compounds bubble into the ocean from below the sea floor. But life always seems to find a way. Microscopic organisms thrive on the noxious brew. They feed a vibrant ecosystem. And research in recent years has found that the population includes fish that are popular on human dinner plates.

Methane seeps occur where pockets of methane create mounds on the ocean floor. Cracks and pores allow some of the gas to escape. Microbes feed on the gas. Larger organisms eat the microbes and so on, building a complex food web.

Among the main creatures around the seeps are tubeworms, which can form dense beds. And surveys have found several commercially important fish living in or near the beds. That includes a type of rockfish off the West Coast of the United States, and Chilean seabass off the Pacific coast of South America.

The most recent addition is the red cusk eel. It’s not an actual eel, but it’s long and skinny like an eel. It’s popular in Chilean markets and restaurants. Fishers took more than 2,000 tons of the cusk eel in 2022.            

An expedition in late 2024 found a large population of the fish at a seep about 10 miles off the coast of Chile. The fish were nestled in a large bed of tubeworms. They might have been using the beds to hide from predators. Or they might have been getting some grooming from snow crabs there. Whatever the reason, the fish were doing just fine in this nasty environment.