Alien-Looking Species Seen For First Time Ever in Ocean's Darkest Depths
In the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaii, marine scientists have discovered animals humanity has never seen before: creatures who live very different lives, in the permanent darkness of the abyssopelagic.
"These areas are the Earth's least explored. It's estimated that only one out of ten animal species living down here has been described by science," says marine ecologist Thomas Dahlgren of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
"This is one of very few cases where researchers can be involved in discovering new species and ecosystems in the same way as they did in the 18th century. It's very exciting."
Below a certain depth, the ocean becomes extremely hostile to humanity. The weight of the water creates crushing pressures; sunlight can't penetrate that far into the water, resulting in permanent darkness; and temperatures are cold, just a few degrees above freezing. But where humans can't go, our technology can.
An international team of researchers collaborating on the UK National Oceanography Centre's Seabed Mining And Resilience To EXperimental impact (SMARTEX) mission sent a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to depths between 3,500 and 5,500 meters (11,480 and 18,045 feet) in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.
