The sea is a fascinating, strange and mysterious world. But it can also be disturbing, even dangerous. Human beings have always fantasized about the ocean which has given birth to many myths and legends.
Let's dive together to explore it all.
Creatures of the Abyss
It has long been thought that the deep seabed was devoid of life because sunlight does not reach such depth. But this is far from the case : life is well established in the abyss, adapted to cold and darkness.
The deep sea is home to a varied fauna with many species of fish, crabs, molluscs. Due to the cold and dark, the species live in slow motion, the fish grow very slowly but live very old, sometimes up to the age of 150 years. Among these fish are the Orange roroughly or the Macrouridae.
And because it is an extreme environment, the animals have adopted a strange physique, even disturbing.
(The monkfish, a formidable predator that uses its blue light to attract its prey in the dark.)
(A bioluminescent red jellyfish.)
And yes, in the abyss, since there is no sunlight, some fish are bioluminescent, they themselves produce their own light to hunt or flee predators like the monkfish.
The giant squid that can measure 10 meters in length. It has also inspired many legends, including the Kraken, this monster capable of sinking entire ships, as in Pirates of the Caribbean.
The giant squid is also the sperm whale's favorite prey as seen above. However, no one has yet been able to witness a fight between these two sea giants. One can only imagine. But this fight must surely be scary.
Oceanic trenches
In some regions, especially along the alignments of islands such as the Philippine archipelago, Japan or the Aleutian Islands (Alaska), the ocean floor suddenly stops and narrow trenches plunge very deep.
The Mariana Trench descends 11 km below the surface, it could contain Mount Everest which is almost 9 km high. From a certain depth, there is hardly any form of life. It is the total dark void.
(The 12-tonne Deepsea Challenger submarine in the Mariana Trench.)
Waterspout
Now let's come to the surface.
It is a sea tornado. It is an impressive swirling water column sucked towards the sky, it is essentially composed of a cloud of humid air and liquid water.
It is formed when the water is warm enough and cold air descends into a depression, which creates thunderstorm clouds, the most violent of which generate tornadoes.
The greatest danger comes from the weight of the water. These powerful whirlpools can surprise mariners and even sink tall ships by dumping tons of water on them.
Waterspouts may also have inspired Homer for the Odyssey. They could represent the monster Scylla who carries and kills several of Odysseus's companions during the return trip to Ithaca.
Maelstroms
This is a giant version of water that drains into a sink. The largest maelstroms are formed from strong tidal currents.
The Saltstraumen maelstrom, off the coast of Norway, is one of the most dangerous. To study them, scientists throw objects into them which, once sucked up, hit the seabed, before being then violently expelled.
Maelstroms may also have inspired Charybdis, a formless monster from Greek mythology that generates whirlwinds and violent currents. In Homer's Odyssey, Ulysses and his companions just pass off Charybdis to join Ithaca.
Human impact
Most disturbing, however, is the human impact. It was long believed that the oceans were so vast that nothing could affect them. Unfortunately, this is not true.
Over-fishing, various types of pollution (plastic, hydrocarbon), global warming are disrupting marine ecosystems. For example, every year, 8 million tons of plastic are released into the oceans, 100 million sharks are also killed, this seriously unbalances marine ecosystems. It is very dangerous because the oceans produce at least half of the oxygen we breathe.
We
have to realize the harm we are doing to the sea and change our
behavior before ecosystems become too degraded, it is still possible but
we must hurry.