A bright-yellow worm, Paralvinella hessleri, inhabits the hottest zones of deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Okinawa Trough. Hydrothermal fluids deliver high levels of toxic sulfide and arsenic into that environment. The worm accumulates microscopic arsenic particles on outer skin cells and along internal organs. Arsenic on or within the worm reacts with sulfide to precipitate orpiment, creating microscopic clumps that form an external mineral armour. Orpiment is an arsenic sulfide mineral commonly associated with hydrothermal and magmatic ore deposits and is toxic. The mechanism of arsenic transport into the worm's internal organs remains unknown.
The hot, mineral-rich water that shoots up from the sea floor contains high levels of toxic sulfide and arsenic. Researchers found that the worm accumulates microscopic particles of arsenic on its outer skin cells as well as along its internal organs. This reacts with sulfide from the hydrothermal vent to form small clumps of orpiment, fashioning a microscopic armour around the worm that protects it from the toxic environment.
A bright-yellow worm that lives in deep-sea hydrothermal vents is the first known animal to create orpiment, a brilliant but toxic mineral used by artists from antiquity until the nineteenth century. Orpiment is a naturally occurring arsenic sulfide mineral, often found in hydrothermal and magmatic ore deposits. The worm ( Paralvinella hessleri) is the only creature to inhabit the hottest part of deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Okinawa Trough in the western Pacific Ocean.
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