Loripes goliath Yokoyama 1928

Ancient cold-seep community is an unique deep-sea life oasis. Cold-seeps are the phenomena of hydrocarbon gases, mainly methane, leaking from the sea floor associated with high-pressured pore water in wide spectrum environments of active tectonic settings. The natural marine hydrocarbon seeps create a unique bio-geochemical and fluid dynamic environment similar to those of hydrothermal vents. The communities developed around the methane leaking sites used a carbon source independent of photosynthesis and were designated as chemosynthetic communities. These communities are islands of high biomass and productivity in an otherwise monotonous deepwater world, a life oasis in deep-sea. This is the first sample collection of fossil Loripes goliath associated with host rock in this museum. The fossil macrofauna of this carbonate-cemented mudstones was dominated by large lucinids, and most of the fossil lucinids observed on the outcrop were preserved in living positions. Based on the occurrence of lucinids, petrographic fabrics of carbonate rocks, co-occurrence of carbonate pipes, and active tectonic settings, suggest that these fossil lucinids are features typical of ancient cold-seep communities.