Discovered in the deep: the ‘Elvis worms’ that sparkle in the darkness

In 2020, scientists found sparkling Peinaleopolynoe on hydothermal vents in the eastern Pacific - and were irresistibly reminded of the king of rock'n'roll

Nearly 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) underwater in the Pescadero basin in the Gulf of California lie some of the Pacific's deepest hydrothermal vents - and they're covered in small iridescent worms. You'll see little pink sparkly worms, blue ones, red ones, black ones and white ones," says Avery Hiley, a graduate researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.

These are hungry scale-worms, or Peinaleopolynoe - peinaleos meaning hungry" or famished" in Greek - named as such because they were first found clustered around a pile of food that scientists had left experimentally on the deep-sea floor. For years they have been nicknamed Elvis worms" for their sparkling scales, reminiscent of the sequined jumpsuits worn by Elvis Presley.