The environmental importance of the Hydrophiles is overwhelming: through their abundance and diversity, there is no interaction on Earth in which they do not participate – just like these Maxi earrings, covered in a layer of vegetation resulting from years of evolution. Its ability to adapt is unbelievable: they can withstand anything from the warm temperatures of Monbassa down almost to the point of freezing in the frozen crevices of the Marianas. There are barely half a dozen documented species, but it is estimated that just one teaspoon of sea mud is home to millions of specimens. Such is its ominous presence that if all the matter in the Universe were destroyed, our world would still be recognisable thanks to them.