This close-up photo shows a dense colony of one-to-two inch-long polychaete worms living on and in the surface of the methane hydrate.  These worms were discovered on July 15th 1997, by Penn State Associate Professor of Biology Charles Fisher and his research team, which is just beginning to study them.  they speculate that the worms may colonize the hydrates even when they are buried and that the worm's nutrition is tightly tied to the hydrate itself.
(Photo credit: Charles Fisher, Penn State)