Life is infinite, as is the universe itself. Today, this thesis, with the development of scientific thought and technical means, is increasingly turning into a provable theorem. But two centuries ago, a person who wondered who lives on the bottom of the ocean would be looked at as insane. The prevailing picture of the world did not conceive the existence of life in water without oxygen and sunlight dissolved in it. Therefore, the border was drawn along the ocean shelf, and it was believed that below it there are no representatives of flora or fauna.
But time passed, and striking evidence appeared of the existence of life in the gloomy depths of the oceans. In 1850, several deep-sea animals were caught from kilometer depth. Ten years later, one and a half dozen new species of animals were discovered immediately on a telegraph cable, raised from a depth of two kilometers. In 1899, the first deep-sea fish were shown to the scientific world, calmly swimming at a depth of three kilometers, and convincing evidence of the existence of life twice as deep.
Over the next half century, scientists were convinced that below the ocean bed (6000 meters), at the very bottom of the ocean, or rather its deep-sea trenches, life was absent due to gigantic pressure. Then, only three years were enough to refute this postulate. In 1958, the Soviet hydrographic vessel Vityaz caught unknown fish from a depth of 7.5 km, in 1959 they also raised mollusks from a 10-kilometer depth. Finally, in 1960, Don Walsh and Jacques Picard went to the bottom of the Mariana Trench - the deepest point of the World Ocean - on the bathyscaphe "Trieste". Repeating their feat alone more than half a century later, the famous film director James Cameron, like them, equated such an immersion with a flight to another planet. All three saw with their own eyes who lives at the bottom of the ocean.
Yes, it’s peculiar, frightening in its appearance, but still life flourishes here, where there is no sunlight (it completely dissipates at a kilometer depth), the pressure in 1072 atmospheres is twice that of Venus, the most inhospitable planet of the Solar System, and water temperature is only a few degrees above freezing.
The creatures at the bottom of the ocean have a soft skeleton: at such a depth there are few calcium salts to build it, and it is not needed - there is no disturbance, accidental collisions with rocks are excluded. In some fish, eyes without light atrophied completely, in others they occupy almost half of the head. Some of the representatives of the deep-sea fauna look like a fiendish devil of hell. But this appearance is not at all to intimidate homo sapiens. Moreover, in 52 years they were visited by four times less than in 4 years on the moon. It is simply difficult for predators to feed, hence the long sharp teeth (so that the prey does not break out) and huge jaws.
Among those who live on the bottom of the ocean, many have luminous organs. With the help of them, the inhabitants of the depths illuminate their path, lure prey, scare off enemies, communicate with each other and orient themselves. The most original fish belonging to anglers. They have a process on the body, at the end of which lives a colony of luminous fungus. Waving it like a flashlight, anglerfish attract closer careless fish that go to feed them. And the name of the light-toothed anglerfish speaks for itself: it is enough for this predator to open its mouth, wait for the fish to swim into this living trap and slam it!
Most recently, in March 2013, a message appeared about the successful submersion of a deep-sea robot at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Of the variety of those who live on the ocean floor in extreme conditions, scientists are interested in colonies of bacteria. By studying them, researchers are trying to find out if these life forms could exist on other planets. Indeed, according to the latest data, on the satellite of Jupiter, Europe, and the satellite of Saturn, Enceladus, under the thick ice crust, oceans most likely exist …
