Animals of the Mariana Trench: photo and description

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

The Mariana Trench is known as the deepest place in the oceans. Its length is about 1,500 km, and its depth is 10,994 m. Its shape resembles a crescent moon. Today we will discuss the animals of the Mariana Trench. Photos will also be provided.

What do we know about her?

The depression is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean and is still of great interest to scientists. This is because studying its depths is a difficult task due to the high water pressure. However, researchers have long determined that there is life at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, despite the enormous pressure, complete darkness and low temperature. And it is absolutely unique, and sometimes even terrifying. It is supported by geysers, which throw numerous minerals into the water. They support life at the bottom of the depression.

In the Mariana Trench there is an active volcano Daikoku, which is located at a depth of 400 meters. He is absolutely unique. A natural phenomenon similar to it, scientists discovered only on the satellite of Jupiter - Io. The fact is that regular eruptions formed a lake of pure molten sulfur in the crater. This pit is bubbling blackmixture at 187 degrees Celsius.

At the bottom of the Mariana Trench - viscous silt, which is essentially the remains of mollusks and plankton. Considering that it is considered the oldest part of the ocean, you can imagine how long this layer took to form.

Multiple studies

In 1960, the American submersible "Trief" sank to the flat bottom of the Mariana Trench and stayed there for 12 minutes. Alas, no one else was able to repeat this feat. While in the gutter, the researchers managed to see several fish unknown to science.

In the 90s of the last century, scientists managed to take soil samples from the bottom of the Mariana Trench. They found microorganisms that were several billion years old. However, not only they live in the mysterious depths of the gutter. Monster fish live there, the look of which is worthy of horror films. In 2009, the researchers also managed to find amazing fish that emit light.

It is noteworthy that as a result of several dives, the equipment was damaged. In 1996, the New York Times published a shocking article about equipment from the American scientific vessel Glomar Challenger diving into the Mariana Trench. Researchers claim they heard terrifying sounds of scraping against metal, and after picking up the equipment, they found that it was partially sawn through. A similar incident occurred with the apparatus of the German team "Highfish". It is noteworthy that the monitors showed a huge lizard that tried to chewsteel item.

James Cameron, director of "Titanic", also sank to the bottom of the trench in 2012. He and his team spent three years designing a submersible bathyscaphe. He claimed that at her bottom he was overcome by a feeling of loneliness, as if he was cut off from the whole world.

So, what do we know about the animals of the Mariana Trench? Who lives in its depths? The fauna of the Mariana Trench, in theory, cannot be diverse. However, it is inhabited by truly unique creatures. For example, there you can find creepy one and a half meter worms, mutated octopuses, huge starfish and some other two-meter soft-bodied creatures that have not yet been named.

Amoebes and molluscs in shells

Amoeba is a unicellular organism. We were taught this at school. However, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench there are amoeba, the size of which reaches 10 cm. Moreover, they are resistant to mercury, lead and other elements of the periodic table, which are harmful to humans.

Mollusks, whose body is covered with a shell, also raise questions. The fact is that the pressure at depth is so great that even calcium is found there only in liquid form. Vertebrates cannot live there. If you put a turtle on the bottom, the shell would crush its body. However, shell-covered mollusks live well on the bottom. There are animals in the Mariana Trench that are much more unusual.

Fried Shark

This is a relic representative of the cartilaginous fish family. Whyrelict? Because it hasn't changed a bit since its existence in the Cretaceous.

The fish got its name for six rows of wavy gills about 1.8 meters long. But these are small things compared to 20 rows of sharp jagged teeth. Its serpentine body reaches almost 2 meters in length. It feeds not only on mollusks or flounders, but also on other types of sharks. Although the shark lives at a depth of 1000 meters, so she rarely comes across relatives. Recently, scientists have found that, if necessary, this species is capable of vertical migration, that is, approaching the surface.

Goblin shark

Another kind of terrifying inhabitants of the Mariana Trench. Her animals are truly unique. The brownie shark (or goblin) lives at a depth of 900 meters. And the older she is, the deeper she sinks. Therefore, the chance to meet her in coastal waters is small. Its length is more than five meters.

Dragonfish

This creature is only 16 cm long, but is a ferocious predator. The sea creature is very reminiscent of a representative of an alien civilization - a predator from the movie "Alien". Alas, scientists were unable to study the fish, because after raising it to the surface, it lived quite a bit due to temperature changes. However, her body is known to emit light, which lures potential prey to her.

Viperfish

She lives at a depth of 3000 meters. Its life span in the depths is about 30-40years. This creature is remarkable in that it has huge fangs that extend beyond the jaw. Hunts dragon fish.

Amphitretus pelagic

This amazing animal living in the Mariana Trench has a translucent body and amazing tube-like eyes. Eight tentacles are connected by the thinnest threads, like a cobweb. They can rotate around their own axis. Amphitretus descends to a depth of 2000 meters.

Hatchetfish

This amazing, but eerie creature resembles a cleaver floating at a depth of 1.5 thousand meters. Like good nightlights, hatchets are able to change the degree of their glow depending on how much light comes from the surface. This trick helps them stay unnoticed by predators.

Goggle-eye

The uniqueness of this fish is that it has a transparent head, inside which you can see its … eyes. They usually look up to see a potential victim.

This fish was discovered back in 1939 at a depth of almost 800 meters. However, little is known about her, as the extracted specimen died before it was pulled to the surface.

Monsters of the Mariana Trench

The bottom-dwelling animals are little studied. However, we probably do not even know all of their types. So, for many years there have been suggestions that relic monsters can be found at the bottom of the depression. This theory is based on numerousstories of explorers who more than once pulled out crumpled steel equipment from the depths. So what kind of animals can live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench?

Conjecture warmed up the tooth of a megalodon found recently. Its age is only 11,000 years. Although it was previously believed that twenty-five-meter sharks died out 2 million years ago. But perhaps they sank to the bottom of the depression and still live there. In addition, submarines also periodically notice huge creatures. Alas, they were never photographed. There are also messages from satellites. They sometimes detect strange huge objects that rest near the surface of the water.