The discovery of hydrothermal vents

In 1977, near the Galápagos Islands, the discovery of animal communities thriving around hydrothermal vents, with no sunlight at all, upended biology by revealing the existence of ecosystems based on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis. The giant tube worm, which has no mouth or stomach, is one of its emblematic inhabitants.

🌍 Ocean: Pacific Ocean

🚢 Vessel: Alvin

🏛️ Institution: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Associated species

• Giant tube worm · Discovery

Harmless

Giant tube worm

Riftia pachyptila

Giant tube worm

Lacking a mouth, stomach or anus, it lives entirely thanks to symbiotic bacteria that convert the toxic hydrogen sulfide of hydrothermal plumes into energy.

🌊 1500–2500 m

• ⚡ Lives without a mouth or stomach, entirely nourished by internal symbiotic bacteria
• ⚡ Its hemoglobin carries both oxygen and a deadly poison without harm, a unique biochemical feat

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