One vent creature is the tube worm, a mouthless, gutless, crimson-plumed worm that lives in groups, stands upright with one end attached to the ocean floor, and waves like a wand in both the cold ocean water and the warm vent effluent. Each tube worm sustains itself by means of a symbiotic relationship with bacteria living inside its trunk. The worm’s crimson plume is really its gill.

[Picture on page 25]

Tube worms