- Status: Unknown
- Hydrothermal vents of the Pacific, over 5,000 feet deep
Numbers
- Length
- 8 ft8 feet according to the Italian source, up to 10 feet according to the English one; body diameter 1.5 inches
- Lifespan
- 3 years2 to 3 years in the wild
- Depth
- 5000 ftstarting from over 5,000 feet, next to black smokers
- Bacteria per ounce
- 8000000000000 bacteriaabout 8 trillion per ounce of trophosome tissue
- Tube growth
- 33 in per yearfrom 4 to 33 inches per year
Ten fun facts
it was discovered only in 1977, during an expedition to the Galápagos Rift hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor.
adults have no mouth, no digestive system, and no anus, possessing nothing that is required to eat food.
its blood contains a special hemoglobin capable of carrying oxygen even in the presence of poisonous hydrogen sulfide.
it concentrates nitrates in its blood up to one hundred times more than surrounding seawater, and nobody knows how.
its tube is made of chitin, the same tough substance found in insect shells, and can take years to decay.
its tubes grow four to thirty-three inches per year and can reach up to eight feet in total length.
below the bright plume lies the vestimentum, a muscular body region that contains both its heart and brain.
colonies gathered around a single hydrothermal vent can stretch across dozens of yards of the deep ocean floor.
the water around it can range from thirty-five to eighty-six degrees Fahrenheit, a huge swing for deep sea life.
it was once classified in a now abandoned group called Pogonophora, but scientists now know it is an annelid.
The quiz answers
Five questions about this animal. Pick an answer and find out if it is the right one.
Question 1 of 5
How does an adult feed?
Question 2 of 5
What do its bacteria use as an energy source?
Question 3 of 5
Why is its plume bright red?
Question 4 of 5
In what year was it discovered?
Question 5 of 5
How much can its tube grow in one year?
Try it yourself
Take a pinch of salt, about one twenty-eighth of an ounce. Imagine eight trillion bacteria in that space, which matches the density inside this animal's trophosome.
Lay eight feet of string on the floor to match the maximum length of this animal. Then mark five feet to see how much it grows in two years.
Measure thirty-three inches up a wall and mark the spot. That is how much the tube of this incredible ocean creature can lengthen in just one single year.
Data from Wikidata (Q133020) and Wikipedia (Riftia).