That deep ocean can truly be termed oceanic because 95% of it has not yet been explored. It has biological and physical functions that don’t hold true as far as those on the surface are concerned. It is world upon world in utter darkness and freezing temperatures, with crushing pressure, populated by creatures and structures that have never been found in ‘nature’.
Reasons which are stated as to why things found down in the deep ocean are so “irregular”:
Crushing Pressure
The lower the water goes, the heavier it gets. At the Mariana Trench’s bottom, the pressure is equal to having an elephant sit on your thumb, which then pressures these creatures how differently they become “squishy” without any air-breathing organ like a lung to get crushed.
Permanent Darkness
More than 1,000 meters underwater, not one ray of sunlight will reach down into the waters. This point has been termed as the “Midnight Zone”. Due to the absence of light, there are no plants, and many animals have evolved to be completely blind, while some have giant, sensitive eyes for detecting even minute glows.
Lack Sunlight With which to Live
Solar energy once shone down onto everything on the surface. At a deeper level, life is based on “Chemosynthesis.” These toxic materials within the earth crust are used to make food by bacteria that sustain the whole gigantic ecosystems of tube worms and blind shrimps living in complete darkness at volcanic vents.
Animals Bioluminescent
These animals generate light because there is no sun here. While most produce glowing “lures” such as Anglerfish to attract prey through baited traps, some can confuse predators by shooting into the air brilliant clouds of ink. There is “living light” in the ever flickering deep ocean.
Gigantism
Using research and observation, scientists have yet to determine why certain organisms found in the deep sea tend to grow to enormous sizes. This phenomenon is referred to as “Abyssal Gigantism.” For example, sea spiders can reach dinner-plate diameters and pill bugs (isopods) can reach small-cat sizes.
Aging Very Slowly
Metabolims really slow down in the dark and cold depths; thus, a 200-year-to-500-year-old shark or deep whale can really live up to two centuries. Some glass sponges may have been enchanted for over 10,000 years-nauseating, isn’t it?
Transparent Bodies
Most of the creatures living in the deep sea have absolutely transparent bodies. Transparency, which does make the best and ultimate camouflage, is also illusion in a world where nothing can be called completely safe. One example, Barreleye fish, has a completely fluid-filled, see-through forehead and thus can look up through its own skull.
Scavenging on “Marine Snow”
The overwhelming area of the abyss means that in most cases there is little food. Most of the animals consume marine snow, which is a slow-motion shower of dead plankton, fish scales, and crap from the top. This is basically a buffet of ocean leftovers.
Black Smokers
On the ocean floor, these so-called shafts are called “hydrothermal vents.” They spew out water so hot as 400°C (750°F). Despite the high temperature and poisonous minerals, these vents are full of life that loves extreme conditions.
Increasing Dead Zones
In particular places of the deep ocean, it sometimes happens that there is a low level of oxygen. These places are called “Oxygen Minimum Zones.” Specimens from these areas are then considered adapted into microbially less lively “ghost towns.”
Shapes “Alien” and Age
Over the past million years, very little in the deep ocean has changed, so it would contain what’s called “living fossils.” Creatures like the Frilled Shark look exactly as they did back in prehistoric days when dinosaurs walked the earth and still have observable alien traits that were long lost to surface life.
