Not every anglerfish species uses this strategy, and scientists still debate why it evolved in some but not others. One idea is that because females are rare and widely dispersed, males that permanently attached themselves had a better chance of passing on their genes than those that remained free-swimming. In the deep sea, efficiency is everything and the anglerfish has perfected one of the strangest solutions evolution ever produced. The deep sea has a reputation for producing “monsters.” Headlines describe its inhabitants as “freakish” or “terrifying.” But that framing misses the point.
Giant Sea Spider
The smaller teeth and longer gill rakers of juveniles suggest they feed primarily by filtering zooplankton from the water. The marine hatchet fish is also endowed with bioluminescent properties, which allow it to evade predators lurking in the depths below — it’s more of a defensive ability rather than an offensive one. It uses a technique called counter-illumination that enables it to match the light intensity with the background. While you could see some resemblance to other shark species, this animal has its own striking particularities.
This project utilizes the taxonomic expertise of more than a dozen Smithsonian scientists and employs modern molecular tools and digital photography and videography to fully document species and genetic diversity on deep reefs. But in fact, producing light in the deep is the norm rather than the exception. Some creatures produce their own light to snag a meal or find a mate in a process called bioluminescence. The extreme saltiness causes significantly denser water than the average ocean water and, like water and air, the two do not mix. The salt difference is so definitive that sitting above the brine lake, you can visibly see the lake’s surface—even waves when the lake is disturbed.
Finding Food
In the 1950s, it was believed we knew more about the surface of the moon than the deep seas on Earth. Since then, humans have landed on the moon’s surface and have dived nearly seven miles in a submersible to the ocean’s deepest point. Like many other deep sea creatures, it eventually becomes capable of producing its own light through bioluminescence when it is ready to move on to the deep sea. One of its many light-producing photophores can be found on a barbel attached to its lower jaw, which it most likely uses for hunting.
Canyons and Seamounts
The family includes about 51 species and have a distinguishable upward-facing mouth. For decades, scientists believed the barrel eye’s strange tubular eyes were fixed in place. Only in 2009 did submersible footage reveal they can actually rotate inside the transparent dome, giving the fish a panoramic view of its world. The eyes are tinted green, thought to filter out sunlight from above so the fish can focus on the faint bioluminescence of drifting prey. The blobfish isn’t a swimmer so much as a drifter, hovering just above the seafloor with almost no effort.
Bound by Sediment, Held by Family Exploring The Fascinating World of Tanaidacea with Dr. Marta Gellert
Until the late 19th century, many people considered the great depths of the ocean too harsh to support life. Starting in the early 1800s European scientists began to probe the depths of the North Atlantic to see if they could find life in the deep-sea. Based on some initial sampling that suggested animals lived in the deep ocean, the H.M.S. Challenger was commissioned for an around the world expedition that lasted from 1872 to 1876. It succeeded in finding diverse animal life to 5,500 meters as well as making other important discoveries. Nearly a century later, deep-sea exploration during the Danish Galathea expedition recovered animals from the Philippines Trench, at 10,190 meters. The life that thrives here has adapted over millions of years and has been largely free from human impacts.
In a public letter, 15 marine scientists and legal scholars warned that mining may destroy deep-sea habitats, drive species extinct, and introduce vibrations, noises, chemicals, and clouds of sediment into the ecosystem. About 1,000 meters below the ocean’s surface, the last traces of light from the sun and moon disappear into inky black. Among the ocean’s strongest divers, sperm whales and leatherback sea turtles can swim to the threshold, but rarely do they enter these lightless depths. This is the “midnight zone,” and entering it is like plunging into another planet. In fact, considerable amounts of litter can now be found in the deep sea.
- It’s only with the help of long-term studies (time series) like this one that we can assess how climate change is impacting marine ecosystems in the Arctic.
- As we investigate the submarine slopes of Galápagos volcanoes we see life that no one has photographed before.
- Scientists don’t really know why they’re so big; their relative hugeness could be an adaptation to their cold, highly pressurized habitat—a theory called abyssal gigantism, which also falls in line with Bergmann’s Rule.
- Soon the skeleton is picked clean, but the fall is far from nutrient depleted.
- In the deep-sea food is scarce, but it is also a great place to hide in the dark away from hungry predators.
- Each species plays a role in the delicate balance of marine ecosystems, highlighting the importance of protecting this incredible part of our world.
- So far, the ISA committee has approved all applications to explore areas for deep-sea mining, though there isn’t a pathway yet for approved commercial-scale exploitation.
- The eel is thought to swim into groups of shrimp or other crustaceans with its mouth wide open, scooping them up and entrapping them before filtering out the excess water and then swallowing the prey.
- They are so big that they probably caused the belief in the Kraken — a legendary sea monster of giant proportions that is said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland.
- Despite these obstacles, clams, mussels, shrimp, and gigantic worms thrive in these habitats.
- They are often found at the edges of tectonic plates where magma is able to rise through the surface crust.
According to UN regulations (UNGA Res 61/105), deep-sea fisheries are meant to avoid what is known as ‘Significant Adverse Impacts’ upon vulnerable marine ecosystems. To reach the nodules, deep-sea mining companies are testing robotic technologies. The Canadian-based “The Metals Company” (TMC) has developed a process in which a vehicle, about the size of a bus, would journey underwater, grab the nodules, and send them up a miles-long vertical tube to a ship waiting on the surface.
The Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP) is a Smithsonian research program launched to explore marine life and monitor changes on deep reefs in the southern Caribbean. Scientists turn to submarines to explore at depths too great for SCUBA gear. The Curasub is a 5-person manned submersible capable of descending to 1,000 feet. The state-of-the-art sub is equipped with hydraulic collecting arms that allow for the collection of marine life and the deployment Deep Sea of long-term monitoring devices on the deep reef.