This is SeaTalk: Ocean News from the University of Delaware.

It might be cold outside, but if you could travel more than 6,000 feet beneath the ocean’s surface, you’d find places where it’s hotter than a summer day. In some areas at the bottom of the sea, water that’s been heated by hot magma deep inside the earth flows through cracks in the ocean floor. These areas are known as hydrothermal vents, and their superheated water can exceed 500 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s more than two times the temperature of boiling water — too hot for most ocean creatures. But organisms such as giant tubeworms and clams that live in clusters around the vents are specially suited for such hot temperatures. They call this extreme environment their home. This is SeaTalk, a public service announcement from the University of Delaware, the Delaware Sea Grant College Program, and this station.