From a young age, we both were intrigued by the concept of the unknown. This fascination led us to develop an interest in the deep blue and all the creatures that hid in its depths.
There are many fables passed on through the ages from the seafarers of the time about creatures from the depths such as the mythological Cthulhu.
It may just have been folklore but it's now entirely probable that a creature which the sailors saw then was just an example of deep-sea gigantism.
Believe it or not, there's a squid that's 15 m long that's a little over 8 adults stacked on top of each other, called the colossal squid and before you ask it tasted horrible.
There's also a creature in the deep blue called the goblin shark. At first glance, it might just seem like a shark with an abnormally long nose but that's just a facade to hide its killer move. It is capable of extending its jaws further than its mouth and watching it in action in videos was extremely gratifying. Finally, we would like to bring your attention to the dragonfish which is small when you compare it to the leviathans of deep however despite its small size it has a fearsome appearance and is able to produce its own light through a chemical process known as bioluminescence. The light produced by a special organ known as a photosphere. It's believed that the flashing lights are a way to attract prey and potential mates. I'd recommend watching this on some form of media platform because watching the process is super satisfying as well as a little trippy.
Another fan favourite is the blobfish.
It actually looks as normal as any other fish. A pretty handsome fella in his natural habitat, it just decompresses when it’s taken out of the extreme depths in which it lives.
The blobfish lives at depths of 600 to 1,200 meters (2,000 to 3,900 feet). At such depths, the pressure is almost 60 to 120 times that of pressure at sea level. They have adapted to stay at their current depth without having to spend energy swimming. But it is inefficient due to the depth at which it lives in. Instead, its flesh is made of a gelatinous substance that is slightly less dense than water. This allows them to float over the sea floor without spending energy on swimming.
Most of the time 'Marine snow ' falling from the surface is the only source of food since food is scarce.
So, when it’s taken out of the deep sea, its body decompresses and, not being bony, it loses its shape and looks like a blob.
There are also some slightly unusual and disturbing creatures that are famous such as the vampire squid or the angler fish.
The thing which intrigues us is the plethora of undiscovered creatures which may still be roaming the waters. The fact that creatures we thought were extinct still exist, an example being the aforementioned vampire squid is a testament to how little we know. Perhaps somewhere drifting through the water is a Megalodon shark waiting to show its face to surface dwellers.
As such we would like to end this blog by hoping that we peaked your interest and encouraged you to not just scratch the surface next time but to dig deeper because you never know what you might find.
By:
Giovanni Nirvana Alistaire Saksena
And Nimai Venkatraman