Deep Sea Creatures
What is the tallest building in the world?
…
If you said the Burj Khalifa- 5 stars to you!
The Burj Khalifa is 828 meters tall divided across 163 floors, and that is NOTHING compared to how deep the ocean is. Even Mt.Everest has nothing on how deep our waters are. The deepest oceanic region recorded is the Marianas Trench near Guam that measures a staggering 11,034 m deep. It’s so deep that it’s called the Hadal zone after the god of the Underworld: Hades.
Acclaimed movie maker, James Cameron, set the world record of journeying to this mysterious part of the world.
Why is it tricky to go to the deep sea?
The deep-sea begins at about 200 m down, and several factors shift when going that deep.
Lack of light: On your way down, you’ll pass the sunlight zone, the twilight zone and the midnight zone. As the zones suggest, the deeper you go, the less light you’ll have to help navigate your way.
Pressure: Every 33 feet down, 15 pounds per square inch increase in pressure. That means if you were down at 2,500m, you would have the equivalent of an elephant standing on your toe. Uncomfortable eh? In James Cameron’s case, he had to have unwavering trust in his engineers, because if there was a leak in his submarine while deep down, it would implode.
The unknown: Only about 5% of our oceans have been explored and charted. So, if you’re venturing deep deep deep down into the ocean, you won’t know who or what you will find.
What animals do we know?
Despite only discovering a fraction of animals that call the deep sea home, there are still plenty within our grasp. Here are some of our favourites.
Vampire Squid
This 12-inch long squid has large eyes (largest in the animal kingdom compared to the body size) and is named after their webbed skin that looks like a vampire’s cape. Not to mention, their white beak-like jaws may remind you of fangs. They also have photophores that emit random flashes of light for up to a minute at a time to avoid predators.
Giant Isopods: They may look like creepy big bugs, but they are crustaceans. These critters can range from 7.5 inches to 14.2 inches in length, though the largest ever caught was 2.5 feet long! They are essentially vacuum cleaners of the ocean floor as they eat dead animals (also known as scavengers). They can, however, go a long time without food; a giant isopod in Japan went five years without food.
Barreleye Fish: This creature lives in the ocean’s twilight zone (2,000-2,600 feet down) and has the most interesting head. It has a transparent head with tubular eyes. Yup. It is not a frequently found fish, but when it appears, it leaves biologists amazed as the barrelfish can rotate its eyes beneath the transparent dome tissue. It may look like the two dark spots on its face are its eyes, but it is actually olfactory organs. The green glowing orbs that are within the transparent head are the eyes.
So the next time you look out at the ocean, think of not only the animals you can readily see being part of that watery habitat, but think also of those deep down under.
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