Tube worms bottom ocean

At the bottom of the oceans, the lowest level of the ocean waters, submarine volcanoes are found. They erupt periodically, but also phenomena similar to others that accompany terrestrial volcanoes, such as submarine geysers, can be found and are called hydrothermal vents hot vents or black smokers. The submarine vents, linked to the submarine volcanic activity, trigger an unusual life abundance on the bottom of the ocean, at depths of , m 2,, ft in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, but also in the Red Sea. In these areas, animal communities emerge, formed of gigantic species, if we compare them to their counterparts at the surface.

February 17, In the Pacific Ocean near the Galapagos Islands , deep below the surface in the black and silent depths, there lives an animal so strange, so peculiar, so fundamentally different than all other animals that it could be an alien from another world. And in a way, it is. Its name is Riftia pachyptila riff-TEE-ya pak-ihp-TIL-ay — the giant tube worm — and until scientists didn't even know it existed. Capable of growing eight feet long, the giant tube worm has no mouth, stomach, or intestines. It has no eyes, but it doesn't really need them — it lives in pitch darkness. Its soft body is housed inside a protective white tube made of chitin kahy-tin , the same substance found in the shells of shrimp and crabs.

The giant tube worm , also known as Riftia pachyptila, was totally unknown to science until researchers exploring the deep Pacific Ocean floor discovered strange, hydrothermal vents. Powered by volcanic heat, these vents recirculate water that seeps down through cracks or faults in the rock. When the water emerges from the vent, it is rich in chemicals and minerals. This toxic soup of chemicals would be lethal to most animals, so scientists were shocked to find entire ecosystems of animals living around these vents. In spite of the near boiling temperature of the water, these animals were thriving in the complete absence of light.

Tube worms are just that - a variety of marine worms that live in tubes. Most of them belong to one of two large groups, which are called sabellids and serpulids, and some specimens from each of these groups can be found regularly in aquarium shops. However, as neat looking and interesting as they are, they are definitely not for everyone. Many of the "hard-tube" serpulids also produce a small plug or door-like structure, called an operculum, that they can use to seal themselves inside their tube, while the "soft-tube" sabellids do not.