Mondo Knows Facts

Giant tube worms live at deep sea vents

They grow up to two metres long and have no mouth or gut Riftia pachyptila relies on bacteria inside its body that oxidise hydrogen sulphide. The worms pass sulphide and oxygen to the bacteria through a specialised blood pigment. Vent water can reach 350 Celsius or more, while the worms live in cooler water nearby. It sits in Mondo's animals collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Giant tube worms live at deep sea vents: Giant worms Riftia Pachyptila photographed by the Nautile 2
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Where this comes from

NOAA Ocean

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Tags: deep-sea, vents, symbiosis

Giant tube worms live at deep sea vents: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
They grow up to two metres long and have no mouth or gut. The figure is taken from NOAA Ocean, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a animals fact?
Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.