Image Archive

Organisms colonize the outer walls of the 16 m-tall hydrothermal edifice called El Guapo. The community structure changes with height above seafloor. Here, limpets, red scale worms and blue protists (ciliates) colonize the outer sulfide walls of the structure. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI, V18.

Near the summit of the ~16 m-tall El Guapo chimney, sulfide worms, and tubeworms colonize the younger part of the new sulfide growth. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI, V18.

Healthy tube worms grow along a venting fracture in the 2011 glassy lava flow at the summit of Axial Seamount. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI; J2-980; V17.

A dense colony of tube worms awash in warm diffusely venting fluids grow on the April 2011 lava flow at the summit of Axial Seamount. UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI; J2-980; V17.

A small cluster of healthy Ridgeia tube worms grow near Skadis' Cauldron, a highly active snowblower in 2011. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI; J2-980; V17.

Tubeworms with red plumes grow on the side of an odd basalt formation formed as part of a fossilized lava lake at the summit of Axial Seamount in 2011. Depth is ~1500 m. UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI; J2-980; V17.

A lush community of vibrant red tube worms grows on a 1 m tall black smoker chimney in the ASHES hydrothermal field. The tube worms, which are hosted in white housings about the diameter of your small finger, are intergrown with brown palm worms.Credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF; Dive R1835; V15.

A close up of animals, including palm worms and tubeworms, on the hydrothermal chimney called Mushroom in the ASHES hydrothermal field. The image is a frame grab from video streamed during testing of the OOI-RCA high-definition video camera built by the Applied Physics Lab at the University of Washington. The camera has been at this site for 1 year. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/ V14.