Mystic Aquarium

Info

Size:

The Giant Tube Worm can grow to over 6 feet tall (over 2 meters in length)

Range/Distribution:

Found around deep sea hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean approximately 1 mile (5280 ft) below the water surface.

Appearance:

The body of the giant tube worm is colorless and holds a trophosome (a large sack that contains the animal’s organs); a tough tube made of chitin protects this soft body. A large red plume projects from the tube’s opening; hemoglobin, an oxygen carrying protein, gives this plume a distinctive red color. This plume is used to collect nutrients from the surrounding water. Tube worms have no mouth, stomach, or eyes.

Habitat:

As the tectonic plates along the ocean floor move, cracks are formed. Cold seawater seeps deep down into the openings. The sea water is heated by molten rock in the Earth’s mantle, below the crust. As the water heats, chemical reactions occur. oxygen, magnesium, potassium, and other minerals are removed from the seawater. The deeper the fluid goes, the hotter it gets. Copper, zinc, iron, and sulfur from the crust dissolve into the fluid. The super-heated fluid, now laden with dissolved metals, rises. As the hot fluid gushes out onto the ocean floor, it meets cold, oxygen-rich seawater, which spurs more chemical reactions. Hydrogen sulfide (a compound toxic to most organisms) forms and minerals "rain out" from the fluid; these create the hydrothermal vent areas that are home to the giant tube worm. When a hydrothermal vent stops flowing, the organisms around the vents disappear or die off.

Prey:

Tube worms do not have a mouth or stomach so are unable to eat. However, the trophosome inside of the tube worm is packed with bacteria – about 285 billion bacteria per ounce of tissue. Hydrogen sulfide is filtered from the water by the worm’s plume and transports it to the bacteria. In return, the bacteria convert the hydrogen sulfide into compounds that nourish the worm. This process is known as chemosynthesis.

Predators:

There are few predators of the tube worm. It is thought that deep sea crabs and shrimp will feed off of the tube worm’s red plume.

Mating Behaviors:

By slowly retracting their red plume, female tube worms will release eggs and males will release sperm bundles into the water column where fertilization will occur. The larva will float through the deep water until a hydrothermal vent is located. They will then settle and attach to the rocky bottom. Unlike adults, young tube worms do have a mouth and gut for the bacteria to enter. As the worm matures, the mouth and gut will disappear.

FAQ

During a recent interview with Dr. Robert Ballard, the following tube worm and hydrothermal vent questions were answered by a true deep sea expert. 

Q: What is the temperatue around the hydrothermal vents?

A: “The deep sea is an extreme environment.    Pitch black, high pressure, freezing temperatures and then all of a sudden super-hot temperatures.  So the water down at the bottom of the ocean is very cold, it’s about 4 degree centigrade, so it is freezing cold.  If you were to put your hand in a bucket of deep sea water it would hurt, it is that cold.  And then out of the bottom is water coming out at 600 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt lead.  So these creatures are living in a wild environment that it on one hand freezing and on the other hand burn your hand and they are called extremophiles.  And these are very rigorous creatures that live in daunting situations that seem to be the basis of life because they are so rigorous; they’re so able to live in an extreme environment.”

Q: How did it feel when you first saw the deep sea animals at a depth that no one throught they could exist?

A: “When we first went down on the first exploration of the mid-ocean ridge there wasn’t much going on.  As geologists, it was great, we were able to see the outcrops and volcanoes and there was an animal here or there.  So you can’t imagine the surprise that occurred in 1977 when we were driving along the mountain range and exploring the volcanoes and turn the corner and saw an oasis of life; characterized by these giant tube worms.  We were stunned because they shouldn’t be there."

Q: What do you call animals that are able to live in harsh conditions?

A: “Creatures are living in a wild environment that it on one hand freezing and on the other hand burn your hand and they are called extremophiles.  And these are very rigorous creatures that live in daunting situations that seem to be the basis of life because they are so rigorous, they’re so able to live in an extreme environment."

Q: How can tube worms exist at in hydrothermal vent areas?

A: “Tube worms are literally a large animal that sticks its gill out of a tube and ingests the gases that come out of the hydrothermal vent.  You have a hydrothermal vent that is driven by the magma chamber that is not far beneath it.  Water circulates around the chamber and picks up minerals and picks up gases in solution.  And it brings that up in the form of hot water and the tube worm sticks it lung in that water and ingests the nutrients.  One of the critical nutrients it ingests is hydrogen sulfide, a deadly gas in solution.  It is able to take that hydrogen sulfide into its body and bring it into its gut where the bacterium lives and the bacterium love hydrogen sulfide.  It oxidizes it in the presence of carbon dioxide and it fixes carbon.  So it is replicating photosynthesis, its carbon based food system but it is not relying on the energy of the sun to do it, it is relying on the energy of the earth.”

Photos

Photos by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Videos

Podcast

Species of the Month Podcast: What if there was life without light?

Join Mystic Aquarium's Kelly Matis and MaryEllen Mateleska for a fun five minutes devoted to November's featured species: the Giant Tube Worm! In this podcast they tackle the age-old question, "What if live existed with no light?" Kelly and MaryEllen discuss the hydrothermal vent community and how animals can exist with virtually no light.

Download

Kelly and MaryEllen want to hear from you! Send questions, comments and suggestions for future podcast topics to educationinfo@mysticaquarium.org.