Dive To Deepwater Horizon Site Finds "Destroyed" Seafloor, Deformed Crabs Crawling W. Parasites

[hatrack]

Link to paper from 2017 dive: https://www.eenews.net/assets/2019/10/30/document_ew_02.pdf

EDIT

Nearly a decade after the spill, the area is stained with hydrocarbons that appear to be drawing in and then poisoning some sea life while proving inhospitable to others, according to researchers from LUMCON. Diversity of life that is present elsewhere in the Gulf is diminished, said Nunnally. Hard surfaces from the wreckage of the explosion litter the seafloor, but creatures like sea anemone have not attached themselves as they do to shipwrecks and other leftovers that fall to the seafloor, he said.

"We don't have any evidence of this yet, but we can only imagine ... that it is a very contaminated site," he said.

But there is some sea life in the spill vicinity in higher-than-normal numbers: scavengers. Nunnally said their hypothesis on why they are there is because decaying hydrocarbons at the site are releasing an odor plume similar enough to sex hormones that it is attracting crabs and shrimp. Instead of finding mates, however, they appear to be sickened by the site and unable, once drawn in, to escape it.

The crabs viewed by researchers had deformities or were covered in parasites, leading researchers to believe the crabs were having trouble molting their shells — a process that can rid them of the parasites and help with the healing process for injured limbs.

EDIT

https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2019/10/30/stories/1061412287

[IndyOp]

1. I just reached a chapter that included the Deepwater Horizon

tragedy in Rachel Maddow's book, "Blowout". That area was one of the most abundant fish nurseries in the world.

Too late, too late, now that the bier is at the gate.