“Bugs” in garment in water rising to the surface (7)

I believe the answer is:

aerobes

'bugs' is the definition.
(type of microorganism)

'garment in water rising to the surface' is the wordplay.
'garment' becomes 'robe' (robing is a kind of garmenting).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'water' becomes 'sea' (sea is a kind of water).
'rising to the surface' is a reversal indicator (in a down clue, letters go up).
'sea' reversed gives 'aes'.
'robe' put inside 'aes' is 'AEROBES'.

'in' acts as a link.

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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