“71% Of The Earth’s Surface Is Covered By Water”, And These 50 Pics Of Deep Water Are Exactly The Reason Why That’s Not Good

There’s nothing better than a trip to the beach. Getting to lay out in the sand soaking up the warmth of the sun and then jumping into the cool waves when you start to overheat is the best. The fresh scent of sea air and the sand between your toes make the experience feel so special, and if you’re lucky, you might even spot a sea dollar, a crab or a dolphin off in the distance. Occasionally, a jellyfish might catch you, but it’s rare that a beach trip includes very many encounters with other wildlife. If you go just a bit further into the ocean though, or a lot further, there’s no telling what you would find.

Much of what we know about the ocean is actually just estimations. It is so large and so vast that it’s difficult to even comprehend. By using satellite measurements, scientists have estimated that the average depth of ocean basins is 3,682 meters or 12,080 feet. That is almost as tall as Mount Fuji, so just imagine the famous volcano flipped upside down. That’s the bottom of the ocean, on average.  

According to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, satellite data has also been used to create high-resolution seafloor mapping, but only 10% of the ocean’s floor has been mapped in high resolution. So for the most part, it is still a mystery to us. In fact, scientists know more about the surface of the Moon and about Mars than we do about the depths of the ocean. For all we know, there could be aliens hiding down there!

The Pacific Ocean in particular is extremely mysterious, as it is the largest and deepest ocean basin in the world. It covers almost a third of the planet and almost half of the water surface. The Pacific Ocean’s average depth is a staggering 4,280 meters (or 14,040 feet), which is about the height of Mount Whitney in California. The deepest known spot on the planet is actually part of the Pacific Ocean as well, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. East of the Philippines, this trench is more than 1,500 miles long and 43 miles wide, and it’s deepest spot reaches 11,034 m (or 36,201 feet) below sea level. That’s over 2 kilometers deeper than the height of Mount Everest. 

This list features some of the most fascinating creatures living in the ocean, so it's only natural to touch on the topic of marine biology. To get some insight from the experts, we reached out to Dr. Scarlett Smash and Dr. Craken MacCraic from the Marine Conservation Happy Hour podcast to hear how they got into marine biology and what they love most about it. "It all started from watching the movie The Little Mermaid," Dr. Smash told Bored Panda. "I fell in love with the underwater lifestyle that she had. But I just could not understand why she would leave the sea for a man. So, to relieve my frustration with the ending of the movie, I decided to become a marine biologist, so I could return to the sea for her." Excellent reasoning for choosing this career path, I have to admit that Ariel is my favorite Disney princess as well.

"Ever since an early age I've been fascinated by the ocean and marine species," Dr. MacCraic says. "I used to watch Jacques Cousteau documentaries and imagine I was going scuba diving and living and working under the ocean when I was 5. Initially my interest in marine biology was that there was so little known about this fascinating world, but now I'm more focused on helping to conserve the oceans and encourage people to act to save them before its too late."

We also asked Dr. Smash and Dr. MacCraic for some of the most interesting facts they know about the ocean and sea creatures. "Lobsters pee out of their eyes as a way of communication," Dr. Smash shared. "Lobsters release pee from a nozzle located under their eyes during fights and mating."

Dr. MacCraic told us, "Well, the general public thinks that dolphins love people and want to swim with us, but actually a lot of them are sex-crazed bullies. But they can be incredibly smart - their linguistic abilities are really astounding - they understand syntax, they can understand abstract characters as symbols for objects and actions (e.g., they can almost "read"), they use tools, they have accents, they have culture. They even have 'names'."

"Also the cephalopods are fascinating - especially cuttlefish," he continued. "The way they use color to communicate and how they have been shown to be capable of really complicated understanding of how others perceive the environment - it suggests that they have some cognitive abilities at least as high has human toddlers. Generally, humans underestimate how smart many species are, and how we are not so special."