Professor Paul Tyler watches video footage of a tubeworm at the Von Damm hydrothermal field.

Professor Paul Tyler watches video footage of a tubeworm at the Von Damm hydrothermal field. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, MCR Expedition 2011. Download larger version (jpg, 439 KB).

TUBEWORM!
August 6, 2011

The absolute highlight for just about everyone, today, was the discovery of a tube worm at the Von Damm hydrothermal field. While tube worms are some of the most iconic animals to have been discovered at vent fields in the Pacific they have only been found associated with cold seeps, previously, anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean. So while first impressions were that this tube worm looked more like its nearest Atlantic cold-seep cousins it was, nevertheless, the first tube-worm we know of that has ever been found at an Atlantic vent-site. We hope to be following up on this in more detail in tomorrow's dive.