MOST biological molecules—and hence, most living organisms—are ultimately the result of photosynthesis. Most, but not all. Some creatures are part of food chains that begin with methane gas which seeps from the Earth’s interior in particular places, frequently at the bottom of the sea. Bacteria living in these seeps process the methane into complex molecules, and worms and clams feast on the bacteria. It now seems, though, that such methane-based food chains may stretch farther up the tree of life than mere invertebrates—and may have done so for millions of years.
Recently, as they report in Marine Ecology Progress Series, Tina Treude of the IFM-GEOMAR marine-research institute in Kiel, Germany, and her colleagues sent a remotely operated vehicle called Cherokee to investigate a seep known as the North Alex mud volcano, which is located in the Mediterranean, to the north of the Nile delta. Cherokee, which was equipped with a digital camera and a flashgun, started transmitting images of golden and dark-brown objects, 50-70mm across, that were scattered among the worms and clams (see photograph). The researchers quickly realised that these were sharks’ eggs. Moreover, on closer examination they were able to see yolks, indicating that the embryos inside the eggs were alive and developing.
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