The Deep Sea Shouldn’t Be Alive

The deep sea has almost everything life should hate: no sunlight, almost no food, near-freezing water and crushing pressure. So why did scientists find a thriving community of animals there? In 1977, the submersible Alvin descended near the Galápagos expecting a nearly lifeless seafloor. Instead, its crew found giant tube worms, clams and crabs packed around hydrothermal vents. In this video, we look at how life survives in the deep ocean, and why these animals look so strange. In this video: Why sunlight, food, cold and pressure should make the deep sea hostile How animals cope with high pressure Hydrothermal vents and chemistry-powered ecosystems Giant tube worms with no mouth, no gut and bacteria living inside them Marine snow, the slow rain of food from above The giant isopod and surviving on very little food Whale falls and Osedax, the bone-eating worm Deep-sea anglerfish and their permanent mating attachment A deep-sea octopus that guarded her eggs for years The Greenland shark, which grows very slowly and lives for centuries How little of the deep seafloor has ever been seen ROVs, and how sponges and eDNA reveal animals nobody has photographed The deep sea is not full of animals surviving despite its conditions. Those animals look strange because those conditions shaped them. If you enjoy science explained on a chalkboard, subscribe for more. #deepsea #oceanexploration #marinebiology