It is known who lives at the bottom of the ocean: fish, mollusks, sea worms, crustaceans and other representatives of the fauna characteristic of shallow water. But only the conditions of existence at depth are very different from the conditions of the continental shelf and the upper layers of the ocean. Therefore, the inhabitants of the depths have developed protective mechanisms, thanks to which their existence has become possible.
Light radiation from the solar spectrum penetrates into the ocean at different depths. The rays of red and orange light - no more than thirty meters, up to one hundred and eighty - yellow, up to three hundred and twenty - green, up to half a kilometer - blue. And although the most sensitive modern instruments have recorded traces of sunlight at a depth of up to one and a half kilometers, we can state: absolute darkness reigns below five hundred meters in the ocean. All those who live on the bottom of the ocean below this mark have adapted to the absence of light in different ways. Some have telescopic-type ultra-sensitive eyes, capable of picking up the few light quanta available to devices. Or maybe their sensitivity is even higher and allows them to navigate where even human technology passes. Other animals generally abandoned their vision and feel quite good at the same time. And some inhabitants of the bottom acquired the ability to emit light on their own.
A characteristic feature of the ocean floor is food poverty. Due to the low temperature (2-4 degrees above zero), all processes proceed sluggishly, therefore, the inhabitants of the ocean depths are not distinguished by a high speed of movement or increased activity in obtaining food. Almost all animals there are predators. Due to the small amount of food, deep-sea fish have acquired the ability to swallow creatures larger than themselves in size.
A thick layer of silt covers the bottom of the ocean. In this regard, some of the deep-sea animals (for example,
sea spiders) have long limbs, allowing them not to fall into the bottom sediments. Since many fish regularly migrate from the bottom up and back, it is sometimes difficult to figure out where anyone lives. At the bottom of the ocean there is enormous pressure, little light, food, low temperature. Therefore, some deep-sea species are periodically found in the upper layers of the water, becoming prey for fishermen and surprising them with their unusual appearance. So, for example, a drop-of-fish, which has a funny growth resembling a hanging nose on its face, often comes across in the net.
Fish at the bottom of the ocean quite often become an object of fishing, but large specimens there for obvious reasons (lack of food) are rare. For example, coal fish. Although she lives at depths of up to 2700 meters, she often ends up on store shelves. In different countries, fish have different names. We have it - coal, in Canada - black cod, in the USA - sable fish, in Australia - butter
fish. Among those living on the bottom of the ocean, this creature is simply a giant. The length of the largest specimens reaches 120 centimeters.
Life at the bottom of the ocean is very poorly studied, and it is possible that great discoveries await us. Periodically, information pops up that fishermen met an unknown animal in the middle of the ocean, and some even became the prey of a monster. Of course, most of these messages are rumors or ordinary marine tales, but not all. One hundred years ago, hardly any of the serious scientists could believe that coelacanth - a fish that appeared long before the dinosaurs, is our contemporary. However, a little later its existence was proved by African fishermen, who introduced a living individual to scientists.