They are biodiversity hotspots in the vast ocean that swirls around them, each one acting like a unique oasis in the desert. The immense pressure at depths below 2,000 meters can crush air spaces within humans. This is why submersibles like Alvin have a thick titanium pressure sphere where the pilot and observers sit- so they do not feel the tons of pressure as they descend into the deep ocean. The Deep-seas group at Cefas (Deep-Seafas) is a team of ecologists, oceanographers, biogeochemists, and more who study the deep-sea and provide scientific advice, principally to the UK Government and to international management bodies. We also work heavily with the UK Overseas Territories, and the Governments of Small Island Developing States, whose waters can be almost entirely in the deep-sea. Here we bring together the latest deep-sea science, traditional knowledge, and expert insights that shape our work to safeguard these incredible habitats and species.

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Or, animals use a strong flash of bioluminescence to scare off an impending predator. The bright signal can startle and distract the predator and cause confusion about the whereabouts of its target. The light can even attract a bigger predator Deep Sea that will eat the attacker.

Extraction and exploitation contracts

They inhabit the deep waters of Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania, living at depths of 600 to 1200 meters (2000 – 4000 ft). At that depth, the pressure is tens of times bigger than at the surface and therefore gas bladders, which fish normally use to swim, would be inefficient. It is also the point of transition from continental shelves to slopes.1 Despite the extreme pressure, organisms called deep sea fish can survive there.

Environmental impacts

• Depending on the specific research goals, the AUVs can operate at various depths and be fitted with a broad range of instruments.
• Sunlight cannot reach the deep ocean, except parts of the mesopelagic zone.
• Up to 190 different types of these bacteria have been found on a single whale carcass, and up to 20 percent of those are also found living around hydrothermal vents.
• In fact, considerable amounts of litter can now be found in the deep sea.
• Deep-sea fish have different adaptations in their proteins, anatomical structures, and metabolic systems to survive in the Deep sea, where the inhabitants have to withstand great amount of hydrostatic pressure.

Unlike fish in shallow waters that are adapted to deal with sediment clouding their waters, deep-sea fish have no need to cough dirt through their gills, points out Pauly. Like cave animals who go blind, fish in ocean depths have likely lost their ability to exhale the pollution from their bodies. 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. Bits of decaying matter and excretions from thousands of meters above must trickle down to the seafloor, with only a small fraction escaping the hungry jaws of creatures above. Less than five percent of food produced at the surface will make its way to the abyssal plain.

Deep Sea Corals

The zone has already been parceled into a patchwork of areas where different countries and sponsored companies have been granted exclusive licenses to explore — and, possibly soon, to mine. By deepening understanding and sharing knowledge of our ocean, we create opportunities for people to play a part in shaping a healthy future for it. This species of Chauliodus lack scales and the pattern of the pigment forms hexagonal areas in which there is a thin deposit of an opalescent substance.
Most of this comes in great pulses as the result of phytoplankton blooms. When the phytoplankton are gone, the animals that grew quickly to eat them die and sink to the seafloor. Like the open ocean, the seafloor is similarly divided into distinct zones.

Marine Snow

The cracks release buried petroleum-based gas and liquid from deep underground where they formed over millions of years. These liquids and gases are made up of hydrogen and carbon molecules, like methane. Microbes near cold seeps gain energy through chemical reactions, and then pass the energy to symbiotic partners like tubeworms, clams, or mussels. A cold seep is a place on the ocean floor where fluids and gases trapped deep in the earth percolate up to the seafloor.
The geography of a canyon also creates currents of moving water that suspend the amassed nutrition into the water column, often even reaching up into shallower, sunlit depths where photosynthetic algae grow. Krill and crustaceans called amphipods thrive off the phytoplankton, and it is the masses of these zooplankton that attract tuna, swordfish, and sharks to canyons. These worms house bacteria within their “roots” that take advantage of the sulfur in the bones to make energy in a process called chemosynthesis.
Scientists think that they might be an adaptation to living in darkness in a food-scarce environment. The giant chompers allow the 6-inch fish to grab on to anything unlucky enough to pass by, even prey much larger than itself. The same explanation may apply to deep-sea creatures like viperfish, dragonfish, and anglerfish. The top 200 meters of the ocean are known as the sunlight, or euphotic, zone. Plants, who convert the sun’s energy into food via photosynthesis, form the basis of the food chain at these depths, where there is indeed sunlight. At 200 meters depth, we enter the twilight zone, where light starts to decrease rapidly.

• Despite the low temperatures, extreme ambient pressures, absence of sunlight and low resource availability, it supports a rich abundance of life in an array of unique ecosystems.
• Diagram on left shows how the ocean is divided into different depth categories.
• For more detailed information, you can access the full article on the International Hydrographic Review website​​.
• Flashy displays may seem easy to spot, but in the dark expanse of the deep, distance and the immense area can make even bright lights hard to see.
• Baited camera stations, small crewed submersibles, and ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) are three methods utilized to explore the ocean’s depths.
• Animal life at a hydrothermal vent relies on the energy produced by symbiotic bacteria.

Whale Falls

This unusual shark occurs in warm, oceanic waters worldwide, and has been recorded as deep as 3.7km. It normally grows to about 50cm in length, it has a long, cylindrical body with a short, blunt snout. The gulper eel has been found in temperate and tropical areas of all oceans. The depth record for any giant isopod is around 2,500m but a few species have been reported from shallower depths.