MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) | Weird and Wonderful: Giant tubeworms @MBARIvideo | Uploaded September 2020 | Updated October 2024, 21 hours ago.
Towering colonies of giant tubeworms, Riftia pachyptila, reign over deep-sea hydrothermal vents. They cluster where heat and sulfur spew into the sea, extending their feathery red gills to reach cooler, more oxygenated waters. The worms don’t have a gut and they don’t eat food. Instead, they host bacteria inside their bodies that convert minerals from the vents into energy. As volcanic activity deep below the seafloor shifts, the hot, mineral-rich water stops flowing. Eventually, the entire colony dies off. But when new hydrothermal vents pop up, even hundreds of miles away, giant tubeworm larvae quickly settle and colonize them.
More information on this and other weird and wonderful deep-sea creatures can be found on our Creature feature page: mbari.org/products/creature-feature
Editor: Ted Blanco
Writer: Sierra Garcia
Production team: Sierra Garcia, Kyra Schlining, Susan von Thun
Towering colonies of giant tubeworms, Riftia pachyptila, reign over deep-sea hydrothermal vents. They cluster where heat and sulfur spew into the sea, extending their feathery red gills to reach cooler, more oxygenated waters. The worms don’t have a gut and they don’t eat food. Instead, they host bacteria inside their bodies that convert minerals from the vents into energy. As volcanic activity deep below the seafloor shifts, the hot, mineral-rich water stops flowing. Eventually, the entire colony dies off. But when new hydrothermal vents pop up, even hundreds of miles away, giant tubeworm larvae quickly settle and colonize them.
More information on this and other weird and wonderful deep-sea creatures can be found on our Creature feature page: mbari.org/products/creature-feature
Editor: Ted Blanco
Writer: Sierra Garcia
Production team: Sierra Garcia, Kyra Schlining, Susan von Thun
