Annelid · marine worm

Pioneer tubeworm

Tevnia jerichonana

PacificAtlanticIndianSouthernArctic A single ocean

Depth

About 1,750 to 2,600 m, on hydrothermal vents

Size

Smaller than its cousin the giant tubeworm Riftia

Diet

Nothing through the mouth: it is fed by the bacteria it hosts

Zone

The sea floor · 200 – 3,500 m

Key facts

• It is often the first tubeworm to settle on a brand-new vent. The large worm Riftia then settles where it has already grown.
• It hosts the same species of bacterium as Riftia. The bacterium makes its food from the sulfur of the hot vents.
• Biologists found a colony of these worms on a plastic plate left for 11 months near a vent, after an underwater eruption.
• It is found from the Gulf of California to the south of the East Pacific Rise, at about 32° south latitude.

Verified sources

1. Penn State, Tubeworm succession at hydrothermal vents: use of biogenic cues to reduce habitat selection error?
2. WHOI Images, Tevnia jerichonana on a colonization sandwich
3. Nature Communications 2024, Animal life in the shallow subseafloor crust at deep-sea hydrothermal vents
4. Scripps Benthic Invertebrate Collection, Tevnia jerichonana records
5. Gardebrecht et al. 2012, ISME Journal, endosymbionts of Riftia and Tevnia

In the game: To observe

In the same zone

Scorching chimney wormParalvinella sulfincola Hairy vent snailAlviniconcha spp. White vent crabBythograea thermydron Kairei blind crabAustinograea rodriguezensis Atlantic vent eelpoutPachycara thermophilum Long-rostrum shrimpAlvinocaris longirostris