The –est Animals

These record-breaking tube worms can survive for centuries

One deep-sea species can live more than 300 years, the longest of its kind

Tube worms

GROWING OLD DOWN DEEP  Tube worms near seafloor vents eat well and live long.

Courtesy of the Chemo III Project/BOEM and NOAA-OER

By Maria Temming

- More than 2 years ago

Some deep-sea tube worms get long in the tooth … er, tube. Living several decades longer than its shallow-water relatives, Escarpia laminata has the longest known life span for a tube worm, aging beyond 300 years, researchers report in the August Science of Nature.