Flat pinkish “ice worms” colonize mounds of yellow-orange methane ice on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. Methane seeping from deep sources forms ice-like “hydrate” deposits under high pressure. Ice worms do not consume the hydrate themselves. Instead, they appear to graze on bacteria living off the methane.
Pennsylvania State University
Astrobiology is the study of life in the universe — on Earth and on other worlds. To understand life “out there,” scientists first need to understand life here.
