Since the establishment of the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) in 1921, profound advancements in marine science have unveiled the deep ocean as a dynamic realm teeming with life. The common fangtooth, a tiny fish with a formidable bite, is found worldwide in tropical and temperate waters between 1600 and 6500 feet below the ocean’s surface. That’s as deep as a stack of 52 Statues of Liberty, including the pedestals. Species once thought extinct have been found alive (the coelacanth fish is one example). Still other species have yet to be found alive like the giant squid, arch. As technology improves, it will allow us to more closely observe deep-sea animals for longer periods of time and certainly teach us even more about the great and wonderful adaptations that have evolved in the world’s oceans.
While something like the gulper eel, with its massive expandable gullet, is a rare and amazing sight and could almost be mistaken for an alien. Natural light does not penetrate the deep ocean, with the exception of the upper parts of the mesopelagic. Except for the areas close to the hydrothermal vents, this energy comes from organic material drifting down from the photic zone. The sinking organic material is composed of algal particulates, detritus, and other forms of biological waste, which is collectively referred to as marine snow.
Data from these traps have shown that 815 million tons of carbon reaches the ocean floor every year. These layers of ocean ooze are important carbon sinks—drawing down the decomposing bits of carbon, laying them to rest on the seafloor, and finally burying them. For much of the deep ocean, food rains down from above in the form of marine snow. The term ‘marine snow’ is used for all sorts of things in the ocean that start at the top or middle layers of water and slowly drift to the seafloor. This mostly includes waste, such as dead and decomposing animals, poop, silt and other organic items washed into the sea from land. In the deep-sea food is scarce, but it is also a great place to hide in the dark away from hungry predators.

Pressure

In addition to measuring devices, they have a high-resolution onboard camera, used to capture their surroundings. The AWI crawler TRAMPER can operate at depths of up to 6,000 metres and remain submerged for up to a year. An advanced follow-up model, NOMAD, is larger but – thanks to consistent lightweight design – not heavier than the 1.5-metre-long TRAMPER and can carry four times as much weight in instruments. In the future, an even larger crawler will be available; roughly the size of a minivan, it will not only be able to monitor and record, but also to gather samples.
These animals aren’t curiosities from a horror show; they are masterworks of evolution, honed by millions of years to endure a realm Deep Sea where few others could. Sure, they look silly on the surface, but from the anglerfish’s glowing lure to the ghostly body of the comb jelly, each adaptation is a survival strategy. The deep ocean is generally defined as the depth at which light begins to dwindle, typically around 200 meters (656 feet). Borehole Mining is used for mining of natural resources from below the seafloor.

• In addition, instruments moored to the ocean floor operate year-round, while autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) can now be deployed there for winter surveys.
• Like everything about deep-sea mining, the full impact remains a mystery.
• However, they differ from sharks in having a hidden gills covered by an operculum or gill cover, and non-replaceable rodent-like tooth plates.
• Yet even in this hostile environment, there are survivors that use special strategies to cope.
• Instead they live within the females’ bodies as parasites—sometimes over a hundred live in one female host.
• Larvae that arrive later or land on another worm, become males, but never really grow beyond the larval form.

Extraction and exploitation contracts

Those species that gather near hot or cold springs pursue a different strategy. There you’ll find specially adapted microorganisms capable of extracting energy from the chemical compounds that the springs pump out into the water. In turn, many other organisms directly or indirectly live off of these bacteria, while others live in symbiosis with them. New life can spring from these deep-sea oases even after thousands of years.
A range of human activities and climate change are putting species and ecosystems at risk before we fully understand, or even discover, them. Humans have seen just 0.001% of the deep sea, equal to the size of the smallest U.S. state, Rhode Island. Destroying this marine environment without adequately understanding it is a significant risk, scientists say.

• The same minerals found in the deep-sea are used for electric car batteries, wind turbine generators, and solar panels.
• By valuing and safeguarding the deep ocean, we ensure a healthier planet and the preservation of life’s strangest, most fascinating forms for generations to come.
• Data from these traps have shown that 815 million tons of carbon reaches the ocean floor every year.
• In a realm with no sunlight, that bioluminescence is irresistible to unsuspecting prey.
• If the worms feel threatened, they can retract their red, feather-like gills inside the protective white tubes surrounding their bodies.
• Not every anglerfish species uses this strategy, and scientists still debate why it evolved in some but not others.

Sustainable Fishing Practices

It is dark brown in colour, with light-emitting photophores along its belly except for a dark “collar” around its throat and gill slits. This dark collar seems to mimic the silhouette of a small fish, while the rest of its body blends into the down-welling light via its ventral photophores. Although they have immense jaws, taking up about a quarter of their total length, gulper eels have very tiny teeth and actually quite a small stomach. It is more likely that the expansive mouth functions like a large fishing net. 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. Ghostshark is one of the common names for chimaeras, but they aren’t actually sharks at all.

Giant Sea Spider

It is hard to imagine a more hostile environment than this icy cold, pitch black, crushing ecosystem of the deep ocean. Yet, there is life – the deep oceans are filled with a myriad of strange life forms, creatures beyond our imagination. They are often eaten by fish or marine mammals during their slow fall, just to be digested and pooped out elsewhere in the ocean to begin the cycle all over again.

How Can We Protect the Deep Sea?

Ocean depths greater than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) are completely devoid of light and photosynthesis does not take place. In addition, land ore mining will lead to a loss of 47 trillion megafauna organisms, whereas deep-sea mining is expected to lead to a loss of 3 trillion. Despite its importance, the deep sea faces significant threats, from deep-sea mining and overfishing to pollution and climate change. By protecting this fragile ecosystem, we’re preserving the life it holds, the climate it regulates, and the mysteries it continues to reveal. Each of these unique creatures embodies the resilience and adaptability of life, and their survival is essential to the health of our planet.

Bizarre Deep Sea Animals That Are Stranger (and Cooler) Than Science Fiction

Its relative lack of muscle is not a disadvantage as it generally sits and waits for the prey such as deep-sea crustaceans, to come swimming close enough to eat. Diel vertical migrations aren’t the only type of movement between the shallows and deep. Tethered to a life at the surface because they require breathable oxygen, many large animals will make impressive dives to the deep sea in search of their favorite foods. Sperm whales, southern elephant seals, leatherback sea turtles, emperor penguins, and beaked whales are especially good divers. A Cuvier’s beaked whale is known to dive 9,816 feet (2,992 m) deep, and can stay down as long and 3 hours and 42 minutes, making it the deepest diving mammal in the world. A canyon acts like a funnel in the ocean, congregating decaying matter that originates from land down to the ocean depths.
For example, in the central Arctic Ocean, a research team including AWI staff was surprised to discover lush gardens of sponges growing on dormant underwater volcanoes. Many creatures that lived on the volcano millennia ago are now long gone – yet their remains linger. And thanks to symbiotic bacteria, the sponges can still put these relics of the past to use.