Vent worms like it hot.Some worms that live on deep-sea vents deep-sea vent Hydrothermal (hot-water) vent formed on the ocean floor when seawater circulates through hot volcanic rocks, often located where new oceanic crust is being formed. Vents also occur on submarine volcanoes. can stand temperatures that most other animals on Earth won't tolerate. Now, scientists have tested these worms in the lab to find out exactly how hot the worms like it to be. It turns out that the worms prefer water at temperatures near the upper limit of what animals are known to survive. These tiny worms, called Paralvinella sulfincola Paralvinella sulfincola is a species of worm of the Alvinellidae family that thrives on undersea hot-water vents. It dwells in the hottest of waters, thriving in temperatures that would kill most other animals. , construct tubes as places to live. These tubes, which look a bit like miniature tree trunks lying on their side, sit directly on the hotter zones of underwater, chimney-like crags, where material from inside Earth spews out. Poking their feathery feath·er·y adj. 1. Covered with or consisting of feathers. 2. Resembling or suggestive of a feather, as in form or lightness. feath , orange gills out of the tubes, the sulfide sulfide, chemical compound containing sulfur and one other element or sulfur and a radical. Sulfides may be salts or esters of hydrogen sulfide, H2S, or may be formed directly, e.g., by heating a metal with sulfur. worms look like tipped-over palm trees. Using submersibles with robotic arms A robotic arm is a robot manipulator, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints allowing either rotational motion (such as in an articulated robot) or translational (linear) displacement. , researchers collected some of the worms from 2,200 meters (7,200 feet) deep in the northeastern Pacific. In the lab, the scientists put the worms into an aquarium adjusted to copy the high-pressure environment to which the worms are accustomed. There, the creatures were free to move around as much as they wanted. To test temperature preferences, the researchers heated the aquarium unevenly. One end was 20[degrees]C (68[degrees]F), which is close to room temperature. The other end was a sweltering swel·ter·ing adj. 1. Oppressively hot and humid; sultry. 2. Suffering from oppressive heat. swel 61[degrees]C (142[degrees]F). At sea level, water boils Boils Definition Boils and carbuncles are bacterial infections of hair follicles and surrounding skin that form pustules (small blister-like swellings containing pus) around the follicle. Boils are sometimes called furuncles. at 100[degrees]C (212[degrees]F). The scientists kept track of where the creatures liked to hang out most. Some of the worms spent 7 hours in an area that was 50[degrees]C (122[degrees]F). One worm crawled into an area that was 55[degrees]C (131[degrees]F) and stayed for 15 minutes before moving away. That's seriously hot. Even though deep-sea vents are famous for how hot they are, few vent creatures can survive the hottest spots. In a similar experiment, for example, a type of vent shrimp died in the lab at temperatures around 43[degrees]C (109[degrees]F). P. sulfincola, it seems, is an exceptional species that provides a new window into the mysterious world of deep-sea vents.--E. Sohn http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20060426/Note2.asp |
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