| Description of life cycle and mating behavior |
Spawning is intermittent, not continuous and lasts an hour; release of gametes are propelled upward by withdrawal of the worm into its tube. Neutrally buoyant sperm bundles are expelled forcefully enough to be dispersed over a field of tubeworms; the sperm bundles swim and attach to females, somehow mediating a spawning response in the female; fertilization occurs internally immediately before spawning or externally (within the vestimental chamber?) just after release of the eggs; accumulated eggs are forcefully ejected into the water column where, negatively buoyant, they spend a short period near the site of release; advective conditions of the turbulent, warm-water vent environment disperse gametes and developing larvae away from the adult population.
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