FORAMINIFERA OF HYDROCARBON SEEPS, GULF OF MEXICO

One hundred and eighty-three species of benthic Forami-nifera were identified in a study of sediment substrates and tubeworm surfaces in (a) the Green Canyon, Garden Banks and Mississippi Canyon (245–1081 m) and (b) the Alaminos, Farnella and De Soto Canyons (1848–2918 m), Gulf of Mexico; the samples were obtained from submersibles in both seep and non-seep (control) areas. None of the species is endemic to seeps, but 20 species were previously unknown in the Gulf of Mexico. The imprint of water depth on foraminiferal assemblages is clearly detectable, because the species are recruited from the surrounding non-seep habitats. The two high-level surface-sample groups (clusters) recog-nized by numerical data analysis are distinguishable based on the bathymetric location of the sample sites. The shallower