Giant tube worms discovered near Galapagos Islands
Giant tube worms have been found near the Galapagos Islands.
An international team of scientists discovered them while studying hydrothermal vents in the East Pacific Rise.
The results of the work of a team of researchers from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA and other countries were published in the scientific journal Nature Communications .
Previously, it was believed that only microbes and viruses could survive in the extreme conditions of hydrothermal vents.
However, scientists have found huge tube-shaped white worms trapped under slabs of solidified lava where tectonic plates meet.
Scientists have said that record-sized tube worms lived on the bottom of this plane.
One species, Oasisia alvinae, reached 20 centimeters in length, while another, Riftia pachyptila, was more than 50 centimeters long.
Scientists noted that the worms manage to survive thanks to the efficient dissemination of their larvae.
They are rapidly carried along the bottom, ridges and ocean currents and settle in vents.
