The densest aggregations of chemosynthetic organisms have been found at water depths of around 500 m (1,640 ft) and deeper. The best known of these communities was named Bush Hill by the investigators who first described it (MacDonald et al., 1989b). It is a surprisingly large and dense community of chemosynthetic tube worms and mussels at a site of natural petroleum and gas seepage over a salt diapir in Green Canyon Block 185. The seep site is a small knoll that rises about 40 m (131 ft) above the surrounding seafloor in about 580-m (1,903-ft) water depth.
