Questions about the Pompeii Worm?

Question

What Adaptations does the Pompeii Worm have?

What Characteristics does the Pompeii Worm have?

How does the Pompeii Worm survive in that Habitat?

Answer 1

I think this is an aquatic marine worm which lives in the South Pacific. The worms live in burrows in and amoungst the coral. On one certain night, all the worms simutaneously amputate their back ends which contain eggs and sperm cells. These float free of the coral and shed eggs and sperm into the seawater. The sea becomes filled with wiggling worms for miles. Polynesians gather as much as they can and concider them a tasty delicacy. The majority of eggs survive predation and are then fertilized. The larval worms exist as free floating plankton before settling on a coral reef to mature into adult worms. These creatures use a reproductive stragety similar to the 17 year cicada. All adults spawn simutaneously and produce such an enormous amount of biomass that preditors can't consume it all at once. This means there will always be lots of reproductive members able to mate and bear young.