The Microbial Communities of the East Mediterranean Sea Mud Volcanoes and Pockmarks

Mud volcanoes and pockmarks are sites which methane and other gases seep out towards the overlying water. This supply and the microbiologically-mediated processes of these cold seeps can be the basis of unique microbial habitats. Although mud volcanoes and pockmarks vary in the seepage rate and chemical composition of their outflows, the communities found in geographically adjacent systems seem to harbor comparable microbial communities. For the East Mediterranean Sea, only sporadic data exist on its major mud volcanoes and pockmarks collected through a few oceanographic cruises; however, further the knowledge of these systems should be gained by microbiological and sequence-based investigations.