First evidence of benthic communities based on chemosynthesis on the Napoli mud volcano (eastern Mediterranean)

Some molluscan valves attributed to Myrtea sp. (Lucinidae), Vesicomya sp. and another undetermined Vesicomydae were sampled in 1993 (cruise TTR3/Leg2) and 1994 (cruise UM94) by coring on the top of the Napoli Dome, a mud volcano located on the Mediterranean Ridge, at about 1900 m of water depth. These bivalves belong to an unknown, apparently rich benthic community associated to the sulphides and methane-rich emissions that characterize the Napoli Dome. Outside the Mediterranean, deep-sea Lucinidae and Vesicomyidae are associated with cold-seeps and hydrothermal vents and are known to be sustained by bacterial chemosynthetic activity based on sulphide and/or methane oxidation. The same explanation is given for this newly discovered deep Mediterranean fauna, firstly described here.