Researchers Survey Mid-Atlantic Ridge Looking For New Forms of Marine Life, Clues to Deep-Sea Communities

An international team of researchers is surveying the Mid-Atlantic Ridge halfway between Iceland and the Azores to determine its biodiversity and perhaps discover new species and clues to deep-sea food webs. The project is part of a 16-nation effort to determine if the underwater mountain chain in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean has its own distinct animal communities.

Led by NOAA researcher Mike Vecchione of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), headquartered in Woods Hole, Mass., the research team is working aboard the 208-foot NOAA ship Henry B. Bigelow for six weeks as part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge Ecosystem Project, or MAR-ECO.  The cruise is funded by NOAA Fisheries Service with additional support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

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