Development of A Collection Device for the "Hottest" Known Animal, Alvinella Pompejana from Hydrothermal Vents

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9730878 Abstract Hydrothermal vent communities are characterized by the use of geothermal energy to drive the primary production of organic carbon. The vent communities originated earlier than the Silurian, at least 430 million years ago. Because of the largely local production of food, the organisms are independent of surface produced organic carbon. One genus, the polychaete Alvinella, is found at modern vents and apparently has been a member of this community since the beginning. The members of this genus are characterized by a living habitat in close proximity to black smoker effulent which is exposed to extremely high temperatures of up to 80 oC. We propose to build a heated pressure retaining container to collect live alvinellids and use these for shipboard experiments in already existing pressure vessels. We will test their temperature tolerance and verify measurements made in situ. This should provide access to the apparently most heat tolerant animal known and allow us to begin to investigate the mechanisms allowing this phenomenon. As a final goal, we will describe conditions and metabolic responses which may have developed during the early period on earth and may have been carried over in a refuge from surface extinctions; the hydrothermal vent community.