A new study led by [Oregon State University](http://ceoas.oregonstate.edu/) (OSU) graduate student [Sarah Seabrook](https://twitter.com/SarahASeabrook/status/933165245421383680) that uses scientific data and samples from Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) focuses on the extent, variability, and complexity of species—from microbes to tubeworms—found at deep-sea cold seep habitats along the Cascadia fault off the west coast of North America.  [The study](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967064517301881) reports for the first time on the surprisingly rich and diverse microbial and animal communities at eight recently discovered cold seeps, comparing these new sites off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and northern California with two known seeps off the coast of British Columbia at Barkley Canyon and Clayoquot Slope—both monitored by ONC’s cabled offshore observatory. New animal groups that have been identified at these cold seep habitats—which act as islands of biodiversity in the deep ocean—include tubeworms, mussels, barnacles, crabs, rockfish, anemones, and clams. “The discovery of tubeworm bushes [vestimentiferan siboglinid] at the Heceta seep off the coast of Oregon in the persistent oxygen minimum zone was a very interesting finding,” says Seabrook. “This is the first report of these tubeworms from this region, and is particularly notable as it was believed that their absence at other seeps in the region was due to similar low oxygen concentrations.” (Figure 1)