A surreal creature that can survive the apocalypse (5 photos)
Many people think about what life will be like after a global natural or man-made disaster. How you will have to survive and adapt to changed conditions. 
And this creature, even if it could think, would not do it. After all, it will survive anyway. 
This is a demonic-looking creature - a Pompeian worm or polychaete. The worm is a classic extremophile, capable of living and reproducing calmly in critical conditions.
Polychaetes live quietly in the area of black smokers - these are hydrothermal water sources at the bottom of the oceans at a depth of up to 5 thousand meters. The surreal creature does not care about pressure, temperature, or wild amounts of carbon dioxide. 
The secret to surviving at water temperatures around +100 degrees is simple: bristly extremophiles have learned to build tubes in which they hide from boiling water. Inside it’s quite a comfortable +22 degrees. There are no neighbors except for bacteria that cover the body of the worm with a thin layer.
But the Pompeian worm has mutually beneficial conditions with them: it gives them mucus from its body, and in exchange they have the opportunity to eat the products of their vital activity. 
Attempts to bring the worms to the surface to study their amazing abilities were unsuccessful: the deep-sea inhabitant died immediately after being above the water.
As a result, scientists built a special vessel with constant indicators and raised the Pompeian worm to the surface. But at a temperature of 55 degrees he died again. 
So far, it has not been possible to identify the exact reason for such survival abilities. There are only hypotheses, the main one of which is symbiosis with bacteria. Without their protection, the extremophile dies at a temperature of just over 40 degrees.
Perhaps the secrets of the creature, named after the Roman city of Pompeii, can be unraveled. And shed light on the ability to survive in difficult conditions not only of polychaetes, but also of more complex organisms.
