Scaly-Foot Snail
(Chrysomallon squamiferum)

Found only around hydrothermal vents in the Indian Ocean, the Scaly Foot Snail is one of the most extreme animals on Earth, living in near-boiling, chemically hostile water where most life cannot survive! It feeds using bacteria living in its large oesophageal gland, which convert the hydrothermal vent’s chemical energy into nutrients.

 

What makes it truly unique though is its armor — its foot is covered in iron-mineralized scales, essentially giving it a coat of chainmail, and its shell incorporates iron sulphide into three distinct layers. It is the only known animal to use iron in its skeleton this way!