Year: 1988
Type: article
Abstract: The deep-sea hydrothermal vent tubeworm Riftia pachyptila (Vestimentifera) lacks a digestive tract entirely. Nutriments are presumably provided to the animal by symbiotic chemoautotrophic bacteria which are harbored in a specialized organ of the animal, the trophosome. These bacteria are proposed to fix carbon dioxide from the ambient seawater using the energy gained from oxidation of sulfide which is emitted by the hydrothermal vents. The significance of the trophosome for the evolution of the pogonophoran and vestimentiferan body plan is discussed.
Authors: Felbeck, H, Childress, J J
Institution: Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Language: English
Subfield: Oceanography
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Science Foundation
Awards: Facility Support for Galapagos Hydrothermal Vent Biology Programs, Studies on the Metabolism of Hydrothermal Vents Animals, Biochemical and Physiological Characteristics of the Hydrothermal Vent Community Animals, Biochemical and Physiological Characteristics of the Hydrothermal Vent Community Animals, Studies on the Metabolism of Hydrothermal Vent Animals
OpenAlex ID: W1258201904