Cold seep:

it may sound like what happens when your socks get wet on a winter walk but it is, in fact, a phenomenon that could be responsible for nurturing some rare life forms in Scotland's waters.

Four new sea creatures, including a remarkable 4ins sea snail, have been discovered living in the primeval soup on the sea bed near Rockall, and they may have been nourished by a cold seep, where hydrocarbons emerge from the earth's crust into a pool.

They join a long list of exotic creatures inhabiting Scottish waters, including leatherback turtles, tall sea pens (ghostly columns that stand as tall as a person) and ocean quahogs, bivalves that are among the world's longest lived animals at 400 years.

The danger with what man cannot see is that he thinks it does not matter, but the ocean hides a precious and finely balanced ecosystem. Not only do these discoveries remind us of the importance of keeping the area free of fishing and oil exploration, they show that, even now, humans do not fully understand the riches in the subsea environment. The precautionary principle should apply to marine management, to protect ecological treasures known and yet to be discovered.