Terrific Tube Worms Hey kids. It’s Willie the Word Worm again,
back with a special report on a very interesting kind of
worm—the tubeworm. In last month’s issue of Discovery, there was
an article that talked about extremophiles. An extremophile is
an organism that lives in a harsh environment that would kill
other organisms. Well, have I got an extraordinary extremophile
for you. Giant tubeworms are some of the most interesting
animals in the world. And I’m not saying that just because I’m a
worm. These worms live on the bottom of the ocean where there is
no sunlight. They live in colonies beside hydrothermal vents. A
hydrothermal vent is a crack in the ocean floor where lava and
hot gases spew out. The water around these vents can reach over
600 degrees Fahrenheit. But this heat doesn’t bother the
tubeworms. They actually like it. Furthermore, the water
pressure that is present around these vents is enormous. Do you
know how your eardrums begin to hurt if you swim too far under
water? That is because the dee