The worms don’t respond to any old microbe. Of the many strains in Hawaiian waters, Hadfield found that only a few could induce metamorphosis, and only one did so strongly. Its gargled mouthful of a name is Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea. Mercifully, Hadfield just calls it P-luteo. More than any other microbe, this one excels at turning larval worms into adults. Without the bacteria, the worms would never reach adulthood.
