Giant Tube Worm
Giant tube worms, Riftia pachyptila, are marine invertebrates in the phylum Annelida (formerly grouped in phylum Pogonophora and Vestimentifera) related to tube worms commonly found in the intertidal and pelagic zones. Riftia pachyptila lives over a mile deep, and up to several miles deep, on the floor of the Pacific Ocean near black smokers, and it can tolerate extremely high hydrogen sulfide levels. These worms can reach a length of 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in).
The common name "giant tube worm" is however also applied to the largest living species of shipworm, Kuphus polythalamia, which despite the name "worm" is a bivalve mollusc, not an annelid.
Read more about Giant Tube Worm: Body Structure, Energy and Nutrient Source, Reproduction, Growth Rate and Age
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