Since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the Gulf of Mexico has been tainted with the results from the equivalent of 3.1 - 4.2 million barrels of oil spilled into it. We are still all unsure of the exact environmental impact from this disaster, however, we do know that the birds, fish, turtles, sub-sea vegetation and even sediment species were all affected from this. According to Scientific America, "the last (and only) defense against the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the gulf of Mexico is tiny-billions of hydrocarbon-chewing microbes, such as Alcanivorax borkumensis." These tiny bacterium devour the oil and gas from the bottom of the sea floor or moving towards the surface of the water.
Check out this video from Scientific America to get an idea of how these microbes had an incredibly important role in helping the problem caused by the environmental disaster we know as, the Deepwater Horizon:
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