Cold-seep chemosynthetic communities are found in patchy areas where methane and other hydrocarbons leak through the seafloor. Although relatively common in continental margins, chemosynthetic communities in the Caribbean region are poorly known. Their existence in Colombian waters has been suggested by the presence of carbonates and specimens of seep- specialist families obtained through trawling surveys, and seismic and multi-beam data. Habitat models incorporating bathymetry and backscatter data have also predicted the presence of hard ground areas (presumed authigenic carbonates formed due to chemosynthetic activity), which are consistent with water column plume anomalies. Here, we present the first characterization of the megafauna found in cold-seep communities in the Colombian Caribbean between 2300 and 3300 m using seafloor images taken with a towed camera system and samples collected through piston coring. Chemosynthetic communities at these sites resemble those found off Trinidad and Tobago and the Gulf of Mexico. Dominant species include tubeworms (Lamellabranchia sp. and Escarpia sp.), mussels (Bathymodiolus sp.), shrimp (Alvinocaris sp.), and squat lobsters (Munidopsis sp.). These results represent foundational knowledge of deep-sea ecosystems in the southern Caribbean.

在甲烷和其他碳氢化合物通过海底泄漏的斑驳地区发现了冷深化学合成群落。尽管在大陆边缘相对普遍，但加勒比地区的化学合成群落知之甚少。通过拖网勘测，地震和多波束数据获得的碳酸盐和渗流专家族标本表明了它们在哥伦比亚水域的存在。结合了测深法和反向散射数据的人居模型还预测了硬地面区域的存在（推测是由于化学合成活性而形成的自生碳酸盐），这与水柱羽流异常一致。这里，我们使用拖曳相机系统拍摄的海底图像和通过活塞取芯收集的样本，介绍了在2300至3300 m的哥伦比亚加勒比海冷漠社区中发现的大型动物群的第一个特征。这些地点的化学合成群落类似于特立尼达和多巴哥以及墨西哥湾附近的那些。优势物种包括结核虫（Lamellabranchia sp。和Escarpia sp。），贻贝（Bathymodiolus sp。），虾（Alvinocaris sp。）和深龙虾（Munidopsis sp。）。这些结果代表了南部加勒比海深海生态系统的基础知识。