The diversity of life is often strange. These two worms, collected from a microbial mat at a seep clam bed, are not normally what people picture when they think of “worms.” This biodiversity can inspire art, including these two sketches of the worms imaged here, made by Oregon State University Microbiology graduate student Susie Cummings. The other fascinating aspect of the worm on the right is the tufts of chemosynthetic bacteria growing on its setae (hairs). While this type of worm (a maldanid) is frequently found at seeps, bacteria hasn’t been seen growing on it like this before. Learn more