Rimicaris exoculata, the ‘blind shrimp,’ is the most abundant species living on activehydrothermal edifices at deep-sea vents of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Its unusually enlarged branchialchamber houses a dense ectosymbiotic community of chemoautotrophic bacteria. Long debated,shrimp nutrition has been proven to be a kind of osmotrophy, whereby small organic moleculesproduced by the symbionts pass through the integument of the shrimp directly into the circulatorysystem, rather than through the digestive system. The broad phylogenetic and metabolic diversityof this epibiotic community suggests a highly flexible and adjustable microbial consortium,adapted to the chemically contrasting environments inhabited by the shrimp. To cope with thehighly fluctuating oxygen and temperature conditions of its habitat, R. exoculatapossesses hemo-cyanin with a strong oxygen affinity, and has developed both molecular and behavioral responsesto heat stresses. If R. exoculatais able to detect very dim light or chemical compounds emitted byvents, the relatively small visual and olfactory areas in the brain, along with the disproportionatelyenlarged higher centers, argue for a significant involvement of navigational skills using learningand place memory to orient itself within its aphotic environment. This shrimp undergoes uncon-ventional larval development, with a primary lecithotrophic stage followed by an extended plank-totrophic period, allowing a huge potential for dispersion. In light of mining licenses posing athreat for deep-sea environments, this species is a model still to be studied to better understandlife in extreme deep-sea ecosystems at the global scale of an ocean.