[2] One of the places where Thermarces cerberus has been found is in the vicinity of subterranean vents on the Alarcón Rise, near the mouth of the Gulf of California at depths of about 2,300 metres (7,500 ft).

The active chimneys are covered in mats of bacteria and tufts of giant tube worms (Riftia pachyptila).

Growing on the tube worms, some of which are 1.5 metres (5 ft) tall, are numerous limpets.

Other organisms eaten include the amphipod Halice hesmonectes and the gastropod Cyathermia naticoides.

In this location the pink vent fish preferentially takes large limpets, and the removal of these is likely to have a significant effect on biodiversity, enabling other organisms such as the larvae of tube worms to settle, a thing they are normally prevented from doing by the limpets.