teded:It’s easy to forget how vast and deep the ocean really is. About 60% of it is actually a cold
teded:It’s easy to forget how vast and deep the ocean really is. About 60% of it is actually a cold and dark region known as the deep ocean. And it reaches down to 11,000 meters. Yet, this remote zone is also one of the greatest habitats on Earth, harboring a huge diversity of life, from giant squids and goblin sharks to minuscule animals smaller than a millimeter. How do so many species thrive in this underwater world? Over the decades, intrepid scientists have ventured there to find out. Traveling down through the water column, pressure increases and light begins to wane. At 200 meters, photosynthesis stops and temperature decreases from surface temperatures by up to 20 degrees Celsius. By 1000 meters, normal sunlight has disappeared altogether. Without light, life as we know it seems impossible.But, plunge deep enough and you’ll find fish with cavernous mouths, spiky teeth jutting from their jaws, and lamp-like structures protruding from their heads, like the anglerfish which entices prey with its misleading glow. What else calls the deep ocean home?Explore more of the deep ocean in the TED-Ed Lesson The otherworldly creatures in the ocean’s deepest depths - Lidia LinsAnimation by Viviane Leezer -- source link