The bottom of the deep sea has several features that contribute to the diversity of this habitat. The main features are mid-oceanic ridges, hydrothermal vents, mud volcanoes, seamounts, canyons and cold seeps. Carcasses of large animals also contribute to habitat diversity.
Creatures that inhabit the abyssal zone include chemosynthetic bacteria, worms, small fish, and certain shark species. Small fish, worms, and certain shark species live in the abyssal zone three miles below the surface.
The abyssal plain is the relatively level deep seafloor. It is a cold and dark place that lies between 3,000 and 6,000 meters below the sea surface. It is also home to squat lobsters, red prawns, and various species of sea cucumbers. For these creatures food is scarce most of the time.
“The intense pressures in the deep ocean make it an extremely difficult environment to explore.” Although you don't notice it, the pressure of the air pushing down on your body at sea level is about 15 pounds per square inch. If you went up into space, above the Earth's atmosphere, the pressure would decrease to zero.
Light in the ocean decreases with depth, with minimal light penetrating between 200-1,000 meters (656-3,280 feet) and depths below 1,000 meters receiving no light from the surface.
Just 5% of Earth's landscape is untouched.
Hundreds of years ago, European sailors told of a sea monster called the kraken that could toss ships into the air with its many long arms. Today we know sea monsters aren't real--but a living sea animal, the giant squid, has 10 arms and can grow longer than a school bus.
What Is the Largest Underwater Species? The largest underwater species is the blue whale, which weighs 242,500 pounds on average and has a length of 79 feet.
January 23, 1960 – Deepest Ocean Dive
Jacques Piccard and two other men descended, inside a sturdy vehicle called Trieste, into the ocean to a depth of 10,911 meters, nearly seven miles. The explorers discovered amazing deep-sea life at these incredible depths.
Last year an expedition to the Mariana Trench made history by conducting the deepest crewed dive ever completed as it descended 10,927 metres into the Challenger Deep.
More than eighty percent of our ocean is unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored. Much remains to be learned from exploring the mysteries of the deep.
Recent expeditions have found myriad creatures living out their lives at the bottom of the sea-floor. Xenophyophores, amphipods, and holothurians (not the names of alien species, I promise) all call the trench home.
The deepest part of the ocean is called the Challenger Deep and is located beneath the western Pacific Ocean in the southern end of the Mariana Trench, which runs several hundred kilometers southwest of the U.S. territorial island of Guam. Challenger Deep is approximately 10,935 meters (35,876 feet) deep.
You can't breath at the bottom of the ocean. If you can't breath, your body won't stay alive for more than about 30 minutes. (Although you'd lose consciousness after about 5.) (3) The water pressure is very high.
Thousands have climbed Mount Everest, and a handful of people have walked on the moon. But reaching the lowest part of the ocean? Only three people have ever done that, and one was a U.S. Navy submariner.
- The Blue Whale is one of the largest and "strongest" vertebrate animals of all time.
Killer Whales
But the true ruler of the sea is the killer whale. Killer whales are apex predators, which means they have no natural predators. They hunt in packs, much like wolves, which are also at the top of their food chain.
Examples of deep-sea gigantism include the big red jellyfish, the giant isopod, giant ostracod, the giant sea spider, the giant amphipod, the Japanese spider crab, the giant oarfish, the deepwater stingray, the seven-arm octopus, and a number of squid species: the colossal squid (up to 14 m in length), the giant squid ...
Although fictional and the subject of myth, the legend of the Kraken continues to the present day, with numerous references in film, literature, television, and other popular culture topics.
Of more than 568 shark species, only four have been involved in a significant number of fatal unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white shark, tiger shark, bull shark, and the oceanic whitetip shark.
The answer is almost certainly yes. Scientists are still learning about life on Earth and the siphonophore is one of several giants that humans have found in recent decades. Siphonophores live between about 2,300 and 3,280 feet (700 to 1,000 m) below the surface, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.
North Sentinel Island, Bay of Bengal
The North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal is arguably one of the most isolated places on earth, both through remote location and inaccessible population. The small island of around 60 square km is located off the Norwest coast of Indonesia and has been far from explored.
There are still some places on Earth that have not been explored much by people. The ocean is one of these places. It covers more than 70% of Earth's surface, and it contains many types of ecosystems.
Several mountains in Himalayan country Bhutan are believed to be unconquered, namely the world's largest unclimbed mountain: Gangkhar Puensum. Unexplored areas around the world also include small islands, such as Pitcairn Island off of New Zealand, and Palmerston Island in the South Pacific.
This survey confirmed the Challenger Deep as the deepest spot in the world, at more than 36,000 feet below the surface. Only three divers have ever explored the Challenger Deep. In 1960, Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh explored the Challenger Deep in a submersible called Trieste.