blue stained tubeworms

A group of stained tubeworms. We stain them with a blue chitin stain and then come back a year later to collect and measure them. This is how we determined that its takes more than 200 years for the tubeworms to grow about 2 meters (6 feet). Image courtesy of Gulf of Mexico 2002, NOAA/OER.

Related Links

Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico: Cold-seep Tubeworms

NOAA Ocean Explorer Gallery