Image 8-19
Tube Worm Forest
This image of a deep sea mussel nestled among a forest of tube worms was captured by NOAA researchers during the Expedition to the Deep Slope in 2007. This is a species of tube worm that lives exclusively at deep-sea cold seeps where hydrocarbons, including oil and methane, are leaking out of the sea floor. The worms are entirely reliant on internal, sulfide-oxidizing bacterial for their nutrition. These tube worms can reach lengths of over 10 feet (3 meters) and grows very slowly. They can live to be over 250 years old.

Image courtesy of Expedition to the Deep Slope 2007, NOAA-OE
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