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tube worm
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tube worm vent tube worms (Riftia pachyptila) hemoglobin giant tube worm (Riftia pachyptila) beard worm
View a cluster of tube worms near a hydrothermal vent in the northeastern Pacific Ocean
Watch how tiny pandorae worms live on the white tubes of the larger tube worms near hydrothermal vents of the northeastern Pacific Ocean
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Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters
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tube worm
tube worm Tube worms of the genus Lamellibrachia at the Daikoku submarine volcano in the Mariana Arc region.

tube worm

annelid
Also known as: tubeworm
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History
vent tube worms (Riftia pachyptila)
1 of 2
vent tube worms (Riftia pachyptila)Exotic biological communities exist near deep-sea vents; these ecosystems (which often support tube worms) are totally independent of energy from the Sun, depending not on photosynthesis but rather on chemosynthesis by sulfur-fixing bacteria.
hemoglobin
2 of 2
hemoglobinGiant tube worms (Riftia pachyptila) at an undersea vent in the Pacific Ocean showing red hemoglobin-containing plumes.

tube worm, any of a number of tube-dwelling marine worms belonging to the annelid class Polychaeta (see polychaete; feather-duster worm; tentacle worm). Other tube-dwelling worms include the horseshoe worm (phylum Phoronida) and the beardworm (phylum Pogonophora).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Rachel Cole.