These are tubeworms. Each worm is over six feet long and has a protective white tube surrounding a red body that pokes out the top.
Click on image for full size
Image copyright 1997 by the American Geophysical Union. Further electronic distribution is not allowed.
Creatures which live in Harsh Environments
On Earth, we know that there are many types of living things that are able to live in difficult environments. The picture to the left shows an example of some of these creatures. These are tubeworms that live near hydrothermal vents on the seafloor. There, a hydrothermal vent, which is like an undersea volcano, heats the seawater making the environment very hot. It is completely dark because light cannot penetrate through that much water and there is a lot of pressure from the weight of the water above.
Yet these tubeworms and other creatures are adapted to survive in this harsh environment. The worms are very large, up to two meters (6.6 feet) long! Can you imagine a worm the size of a basketball player? They live near hydrothermal vents in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The worms make the tubes themselves to protect from predators such as crabs and fish that might like to nibble a tasty tubeworm.
Tubeworms live with bacteria inside them. The bacteria help the tubeworms by making food from the chemicals that come out of the vent and water. The tubeworms help the bacteria get the materials to make the food and provide them with a safe place to live. This relationship is called symbiosis because both creatures benefit from living together.
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
"
Ready, Set, SCIENCE!: Putting Research to Work in K-8 Science Classrooms", from the National Research Council, provides insight on the types of instructional experiences help K-8 students learn science with understanding. Check our other
books in our
online store.
You might also be interested in:
Titan's atmosphere is a lot like the Earth's, except that it is very cold, from -330 degrees to -290 degrees! Like the Earth, there is a lot of Nitrogen and other complex molecules. There also may be an
...more
Hello again, from 9°50'N in the east Pacific Ocean (also known at the East Pacific Rise or EPR)! Did you know that deep beneath the surface of the ocean lies a mountain chain that stretches around the
...more
Zigzagging some 60,000 kilometers across the ocean floor, Earth's system of mid-ocean ridges plays a pivotal role in many workings of the planet: in plate-tectonic movements, heat flow from the interior,
...more
Jupiter's atmospheric environment is one of strong gravity, high pressure, strong winds, from 225 miles per hour to 1000 miles per hour, and cold temperatures of -270 degrees to +32 degrees (freezing temperature).
...more
In July, 1996, it was announced that Dr. David McKay, along with a team of scientists at Johnson Space Center (a division of NASA), had discovered possible fossils of bacteria in an ancient rock from Mars.
...more
Saturn's atmospheric environment is one of strong gravity, high pressure, strong winds, from 225 miles per hour to 1000 miles per hour, and cold temperatures of -270 degrees to +80 degrees. With winds
...more
Autotrophs are organisms that produce organic compounds from an inorganic source of carbon (carbon dioxide) given a source of energy. If the source of energy is the reactions of inorganic chemical compounds,
...more
