[1] This species lives in cold seeps in the Gulf of Mexico.

[3] Bathymodiolus childressi is stenothermal species living in temperatures ranging from 6.5 to 7.2 °C.

The snail Bathynerita naticoidea can detect beds of the mussel Bathymodiolus childressi.

[3] This snail also feeds on periphyton of methanotrophic bacteria that grow on the shells of Bathymodiolus childressi,[3] living on the decomposing periostracum of the mussels[3] and on byssal fibres of those mussels.

[3] This species was named after James J. Childress, a marine biologist who investigated the physiology of this mussel at the University of California, Santa Barbara.