It is said that we know much more about the surface of the Moon than what is happening, in the dark depths of the ocean which are on our own planet. Indeed, man has investigated only 5% of the world’s oceans (there are even better maps of Mars than the ocean floor!).
Here is an interesting fact for all of you: Did you know that a human being spend about two minutes on the surface of the Moon without any equipment before the vacuum kills him/her? But, the same man would not survive one millisecond at the bottom of the deepest oceans because the pressure would literally destroy him/her.
Also, the dark side of the Moon has more light than down, down, down ... in the depths of the abyss ... There is one thing we know; even in the deepest part of an ocean, known as the Mariana Trench, despite enormous pressure (from about 16,000 pounds per square inch - or 1.6 billion bars) and the absolute, total darkness - there is life! Auguste Picard, the man who travelled into the abyss with his bathyscaphe in 1960, saw a couple of extreme creatures who apparently live in the previously described environment.
Fangot fish live at depths of over 16 5000 feet:
At these incredible depths, scientists keep finding strange and bizarre creatures that inhabit the deep abyss. The ocean floor makes more than 50% of the earth's surface.
We already said that there is no light at these depths, so most animals use various tricks to attract bait. Grammatostomias flagellibarba, or to simplify, dragon fish, uses so-called "biological light." Mainly for one thing: food. If a diver would go deep enough to notice a radiant light, it would be wiser for him to flee immediately because he could easily become the prey to monstrously big and pin-sharp fangs of the dragon fish.
"The sea angler" is another type of the "monster" fish that uses the "flashing bait." However, it uses a different trick. Rather than to lure prey into the mouth, it uses its "fishing rod" like a harpoon to catch the prey.
One mile from the Coral Sea off the coast of Australia another type of fish has been found - "The Hairy Sea Carnivore". It uses long "hair" to gather information about the environment:
"Long head sleeper" is also a carnivore found in the waters of Greenland.
Batisaurus will bite whenever it gets the chance, and can grow up to two feet.
Another candidate for the award is a so called "Golooka fish." This fish looks really weird and strange. This fish has eyes, but why would they be in one place? This fish has a transparent head and eyes can move in whatever direction inside the skull!
Medusa atolls and perifila:
The transparent sea cucumber, Enipniasta, was seen at a depth of 1.5 miles. It lives in northern part of tge Gulf of Mexico. The right photo shows "Dambo" - with funny "ears".
Ping pong tree sponge comes from a family of carnivores. I is quite large, can grow up to two feet.
Granrojo (top right) is a deep water jelly fish with a strange, plump "hands", and irresistible body that looks like it is made of plastic.
Since none of these fish and jellyfish is monstrous in size, we'll now see something called abyssal gigantism, or the tendency of all organisms that live in extremely deep waters to be gigantic and not just disgusting and ugly.
Do you have a small dog, a cat or a turtle? Would you like to have a similar pet in size but in a totally different form and type?
Sweet? Not at all. Nice? Even less. But the giant isopods would certainly start many rumors about you if took him out for a walk. Just imagine: a pill shaped bug which weighs about 4 pounds.
Other abyss giants are not for those who are afraid of spiders ... Japanese spidery crab, which reaches a length of 12 feet, is indeed a true example of gigantism.
Vampire sea spiders in the Antarctic? Sounds like a fantasy, but they really exist...
Although it is not large, one of the beautiful creatures that live in the dark ocean depths has true name that describes it: the vampire squid. With its blood red color, this squid has hooks instead of ordinary soft tentacles which turn into a thorny ball when in danger. This squid also radiates natural light when it wants to be seen, but it can ‘turn it off’ whenever it wants and disappear in the dark.
Of course, we can talk for hours since there are thousands of strange and weird organisms down there, but we should note one thing: every day there is a possibility to find an even stranger and more twisted animal in the unexplored depths of the sea.
We will now return to the abyssal gigantism. Namely, there is one animal that is a mixture of known and unknown which is a nightmare in dark ocean depths. It was thought for a long time that it is just a myth, a story that circulates between the idle seamen. But then proof arrived: disturbing scars on a large whale the king of the ocean depths - which gave evidence of the unimaginable fight deep below sea level.
These giants are down there and they are probably the biggest creatures that currently live on the planet. Their eyes are big like plates; they have 32 feet long tentacles which are strung like razor sharp protuberances with a massively strong beak. Architeuthis, the giant squid, has just recently been recorded for the first time, but it is still a mystery.
So, take a moment and look at the sky and the stars and think about how many misteries are hidden there; then please follow the coastline, take a look at the sea and realize that men have better knowledge of a big rock that is 250 000 miles away then about the fantastic underwater world that is located just a few miles from us ...
images source: darkroastedblend.com
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