🇺🇸 Life on Earth

Avatar Marine Creatures vs. Real Deep-Sea Animals The deeper we travel into Earth’s oceans, the faster the familiar world disappears. Below roughly 650 feet, or 200 meters, sunlight begins to fade dramatically. Descend farther into the ocean’s midnight zone, and the difference between day and night becomes almost meaningless. There are no trees, open fields, … 더 읽기

Zombie Worms (Osedax) Nearly two miles beneath the surface of Monterey Bay, a dead whale rests on the seafloor. At first, the carcass attracts some of the ocean’s most efficient scavengers. Hagfish burrow into the soft tissue. Sleeper sharks tear away strips of flesh. Crabs, amphipods, and other deep-sea animals gather around what has suddenly … 더 읽기

Pompeii Worm Explained More than a mile beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean, sunlight has completely disappeared. The surrounding seawater hovers just above freezing. The pressure is hundreds of times greater than what we experience at sea level, and no green plants can survive because photosynthesis is impossible. Then, in the darkness, a remotely … 더 읽기

Deep-Sea Brittle Stars A remotely operated vehicle was moving slowly above the deep seafloor when its lights revealed something unexpected. At first, the landscape appeared to be covered in dark vines. Long, slender strands stretched across the sediment, tangled around rocks, and swayed gently in the current. They looked almost like the roots of an … 더 읽기

Black Swallower Explained Far below the sunlit surface of the ocean, a small black fish encounters a meal that appears impossibly large. The prey is longer, heavier, and wider than the predator attempting to eat it. Most fish would avoid such a dangerous target. In the deep sea, however, passing up a meal can be … 더 읽기

Deep-Sea Squid Camouflage A small squid drifts through the open ocean hundreds of feet below the surface. There are no rocks to hide behind, no coral reefs to blend into, and no seaweed thick enough to provide cover. Faint sunlight filters down from above, while predators patrol the darkness below. Some of those hunters can … 더 읽기

Deep-Sea Sounds Explained Imagine descending thousands of feet beneath the ocean’s surface in a small research submersible. At first, the deep sea seems like the quietest place on Earth. Sunlight fades until the windows reveal nothing but darkness. There are no breaking waves, no wind, no birds, and no human voices. When the submersible’s lights … 더 읽기

Coelacanth Rediscovery On December 22, 1938, a fishing trawler returned to the port of East London on South Africa’s southeastern coast. Its deck looked much like it did after any other trip. Sharks, rays, and ordinary market fish lay piled together, waiting to be sorted. Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, the young curator of the East London Museum, … 더 읽기

How Deep-Sea Mining Affects Marine Ecosystems A research vessel comes to a stop in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There is no land in sight. Below the ship lies more than 13,000 feet of dark water—far deeper than most commercial submarines can travel. A remotely operated vehicle slowly descends through the water column until … 더 읽기

History of Deep-Sea Exploration A small research vessel floated above the western Pacific while a strange-looking submersible slowly disappeared beneath the waves. It was January 23, 1960. Inside the cramped steel pressure sphere of the bathyscaphe Trieste, Swiss ocean engineer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh were descending toward a place no human … 더 읽기