Communities were discovered in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico in 1983 using the manned submersible "DSV Alvin", during a cruise investigating the bottom of the Florida Escarpment in areas of "cold" brine seepage, where they unexpectedly discovered tubeworms and mussels (Paull et al., 1984). Two groups fortuitously discovered chemosynthetic communities in the Central Gulf of Mexico concurrently in November 1984. During investigations by Texas A&M University to determine the effects of oil seepage on benthic ecology (until this investigation, all effects of oil seepage were assumed to be detrimental), bottom trawls unexpectedly recovered extensive collections of chemosynthetic organisms, including tube worms and clams (Kennicutt et al., 1985). At the same time, LGL Ecological Research Associates was