Student Essay on The Abyss

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The Abyss

Summary:   Although the Abyss of the deep ocieans may appear to be a cold, dark, lifeless world, it has been for scientists, a treasure trove of interesting creatures and organisms. More new species have been found in the Abyss in recent years, than from any other ecosystem on the planet, and is described as "the last frontier" for earth.

When people think of the ocean, they usually think of the clear, blue waters just

beyond the shores where creatures of every color and size dwell. The scientific name for

this area is the Pelagic zone, the area of the ocean where most of the species live.

However, there is another area, just below the Pelagic zone that is often forgot, that could

be the last great mystery that earth holds for humanity. It is the "Abyss", which includes

the ocean floor and the area of ocean where sunlight can not penetrate.

The history of humanity's knowledge of the Abyss may begin as soon as 1818,

when a man by the name of Sir John Ross lowered a fishing line more than a mile into

the North Atlantic. He was able to hook a number of strange looking worms and a sea

star. Almost thirty years later, Edward Forbes proposed that no "substantial" life could

exist beyond three hundred fathoms, but was proven wrong near the end of the century

when scientists began to explore farther down into the ocean depths. The result was the

classification of new species of eel, fish, and squid. As technology took off in the

nineteen hundreds, Marine Biologists began to explore the ocean depths with the use of

bathyscaphs, submersibles, and underwater cameras and video. Our exploration has not

just given us new underwater species, but gave Geologists the theory of sea floor

spreading, and the idea that life may have originated from the huge hydrothermal vents

that litter the sea floor.

Light penetrates the ocean water as far down as 2,000 feet, which leaves the rest

of the 13,000 feet deep ocean and its inhabitants in total darkness. As if life was not hard

enough on the creatures that live in the Abyss, they must survive life around underwater

hydrothermal vents that spew out deadly toxicants, like hydrogen sulfide. The creatures

that live around them however, have grown immune to these toxicants, and may even

thrive on them, while other organisms within wafting distance die. Tubeworms use the

chemical reaction between hydrogen sulfide and oxygen to make organic compounds

they need to survive. Vents also release heavy metals that can clog mouthparts and gills

of fish that live nearby. It is still a mystery as to how vent-dwelling organisms can cope

with this, but it may be explained in some animal's metal-binding proteins and the ability

to expel the metal through mucus.

Another danger of the vents is the pure acidity of the water coming out of them.

With a pH balance as low as 2.8, the water is at times, more acidic than vinegar. The

naked snail is an example of an organism affected by this; they could not even form

calcium carbonate shells due to the extremely acidic water. Yet another factor that

contributes to the lives of these remarkable underwater creatures, is the extreme pressure

that far down. With every 32.8 feet of decent, the weight of the water above increases by

14.7 pounds per square inch. At the depth of 7,500 feet, the pressure these animals feel

over every square inch of their bodies is over 3,350 pounds. They have learned to adapt

to this by now allowing any air pockets in their bodies, like lungs that would be crushed

instantly by the pressure. If you were to bring one of these creatures up from its home in

the Abyss, it would die from the rapid decrease in pressure, something that early

scientists studying the Abyss leaned. These experiments yielded little, aside from the

basic anatomy of the animals.

The most startling condition of the hydrothermal vents is the extreme

temperatures that creatures must put up with to survive. Water in the Abyss is about 35

degrees Fahrenheit, but water expelled from the vents can get up to 750 degrees

Fahrenheit. Although hydrothermal vents may seem like the most inhospitable home in

the world, the irony is that life may have originated on our planet from these very same

vents. Despite the extreme conditions, vent creatures have lived with little change for

millions of years. The creatures that dwell along the ocean floor resemble ancient animals

more than anything that is alive today, and were not affected when mass extinctions

swept the face of our planet. Modern Biologists have even suggested that life in general

most likely began in these very same vents.

With such conditions, most people believed that there could be no life at the

bottom of the ocean. At first, it was theorized that only scavengers existed at the bottom,

but that they would have long died out since little food would probably reach the bottom.

No plants can live in the Abyss, considering there is no sunlight, which would make

photosynthesis impossible. The seemingly hostile environment of the sea vents is the key

to the survival of many Abyss species. Bacteria called Methanogen converts the

dangerous sulphur compounds to carbohydrates for simple animals that start the food

chain. Methanogen is present in the body tubes of animals without mouths and stomachs,

and is used for respiration. Other creatures feed off sediment or falling ooze created by

dead plants and animals.

The more carnivorous animals use many creative tactics to secure prey in the

Abyss. The most common tool these creatures employ is bioluminescence, the ability to

generate light that is created by bacteria or specialized cells known as photophores.

Special types of plankton also use bioluminescence at night when disturbed, although it is

not understood why. Fish such as the Anglerfish use bioluminescence to attract prey,

particularly in the caruncles, three luminescent sacs just in front of the dorsal fins which

gives the fish its nickname, "triplewart sea devil." A lightable lure right above the

Anglerfish's eye also helps to attract prey. Bioluminescence can also be used to evade a

predator, like how the deep-sea shrimp releases a cloud of light from its body to escape

danger.

Another species of fish found after the exploration of the Abyss is the viperfish, a

deadly looking fish with large protruding teeth that come dangerously close to its own

eyes. A viperfish has never been photographed in its natural habitat, but has been

described as swimming with its head upward, and its body making a 45 degree angle to

the horizontal plane. An equally fascinating fish is the fangtooth fish, or "orgefish."

Originally, scientists had classified the juvenile and adult fangtooth fish as completely

different species, based on how different they appear. Other species of the deep include

the pelican eel, the gulper, the long-nosed chimaera, and the interestingly named

"vampire squid from hell." Species of starfish also exist at the bottom of the ocean, like

the basket starfish that can be found at depths of 4,000 feet from the artic to Cape Cod.

Species of worms that live in the Abyss are the tubeworms and Pompeii worms.

These wonderful creatures could not have been discovered however, without the

creation of powerful underwater machines used to explore the Abyss. The first machine

used by underwater explorers was the Bathysphere, developed in the 1930's by William

Beebe and Otis Barton. It was a 4,500-pound hollow steel ball that was lowered into the

ocean by a cable attached to a ship. Auguste Piccard improved this design a few years

later with the Bathyscape, a precursor to the modern day submarine and submersible.

Piccard and his son Jacques would go on to design the Trieste, which set a new world

record in 1960 by descending to 35,800 feet below the ocean surface. Recent advances in

underwater technology have resulted in the creation of the Alvin submersible, the

Johnson Sea Link, the Nautile, and the MIR-1 and MIR-2.

Although the Abyss may appear to be a cold, dark, lifeless world, it has been for

scientists, a treasure trove of interesting creatures and organisms. More new species have

been found in the Abyss in recent years, than from any other ecosystem on the planet, and

is described as "the last frontier" for earth. Perhaps humanity has begun a return to the

sea to discover the places where life first came into existence, and spawned the world we

know today.