Why the Deep Ocean Creates Monsters Bigger Than Anything Above

Bright Side

The deeper you go into the ocean, the stranger — and bigger — the creatures become. In this video, we’re diving into the science behind why the deep sea creates giants that don’t exist anywhere on land. You’ll discover how pressure, darkness, and ancient evolution shaped monsters that look like they crawled out of another world. We’ll explore the colossal squids, massive amphipods, and other deep-sea titans that make sharks look tiny. And the craziest part? Scientists think there are even bigger creatures down there we still haven’t found. Get ready to explore the alien world hiding beneath our feet.  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

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00:00Most of the ocean is still shrouded in mystery, whether we're talking about dark corners or

00:05creatures that are hiding in the depths. But sometimes, it gives us a peek into scary things

00:11it hides in its cold, dark depths. Like when you hear on the news that there are some deep-sea

00:16creatures washed ashore after a powerful storm once again. Some just look weird, while others

00:22are real monsters that live at depths of more than 3,300 feet. The coldest and deepest parts

00:30of the ocean have created one specific phenomenon called gigantism. So sea spiders, squids, worms,

00:38and many other animals, mostly invertebrates or creatures without backbones, they're all way

00:43bigger and scarier than the versions we see in the more shallow areas. In the Pacific depths,

00:49you can see a sea sponge as large as a minivan. Or what about the colossal squid that lives in

00:56sub-Antarctic waters and is nearly 14 times longer than the arrow squid, a type that mostly lives in

01:03New Zealand? Researchers found many of these underwater monsters in the abyssal zone of the

01:08ocean. Back in 2021, the researchers showed images of the giant phantom jelly. It was at a depth of

01:163,200 feet. Its tentacles were 33 feet long. Wow, I wouldn't like to face that one on the beach.

01:24It probably eats only small fish and plankton, but it can swim to depths of more than 21,900 feet.

01:32And down there, this giant jelly doesn't have enough food. How does it survive then? Scientists

01:38haven't figured it out yet. And there are even more questions related to the giant squid,

01:44the biggest one ever found. This monster is 43 feet long with a weight of nearly a ton.

01:52Imagine if those tentacles would grab your car or something like that. They would smash it like it

01:57was a toy. There's no light in the abyssal zone. Sun rays just can't penetrate that deep. So there's

02:05no algae or underwater plants there. Local animals mostly eat snow. Marine snow is not like the regular

02:13one you build a snowman with. It consists of any small flakes or remains that fall from the surface

02:19of the ocean. Maybe even some leftovers that animals up there couldn't eat. So it's not much.

02:26But apparently, it's enough for very large creatures that hide deep down there, like giant squids.

02:32Squids that generally live at such depths don't bother going after their prey. They just wait until

02:39the poor animal swims right up to their long tentacles and falls into a trap. It may not be

02:44the best method ever, because not many animals will even swim into these dark, cold parts. But it's the

02:50method that saves energy. A giant squid eats only one ounce of fish daily, which is approximately 45

02:58calories. That's nearly 50 times fewer calories than an average person should eat per day.

03:04So when a squid gets one fish, it saves it for a couple of days. I hope giant squids won't get the

03:11idea to go to the surface and look for food when there's not enough of it in the abyssal zone.

03:16And I hope even more that giant Greenland sharks won't get that same idea. You can find them at depths

03:24of up to 7,200 feet. They're twice as slow as we usually walk. They swim at a speed of 1.12 feet

03:32per second. Their slowness is part of the energy-saving mechanism that creatures down there need to

03:37survive. But they can speed up in the form of short bursts when they need to catch prey. But they kind

03:43of change their diet from predator to scavenger, considering their environment. There will be more

03:49leftovers falling from the surface than animals to go after. Greenland sharks grow just 0.4 inches per

03:57year. And they're mostly 20 feet long, which means they live for a very long time, sometimes up to 400

04:04years. They also have a slow metabolism. And that's one of the main factors for their long life, too.

04:12Greenland sharks like to spend their time in cold waters. They're adapted to that, since their tissues have

04:18specific chemical compounds that prevent the forming of ice crystals all over their body.

04:23That means they have some sort of natural antifreeze. So what makes them so big? Scientists are still

04:31not sure, but some theories try to explain it. There's this thing called Clibber's Rule that says

04:38bigger animals tend to be more efficient. Just take a small fish and compare it to a whale, with a mass

04:44hundreds of times bigger. The whale has a greater metabolism. It conserves energy more efficiently

04:50and loses less of it to the surroundings through heat. Moving on, bigger animals can ingest bigger

04:58prey. They're more likely to go through tough issues in their environment or defend themselves from

05:03predators going after them. Also, the body gets bigger when temperatures are lower. The Greenland shark

05:09is a perfect example. So are giant sea spiders. Sea spiders are generally common, and you find some

05:16very small ones at 0.04 inches. But in deeper parts of the Antarctic, they become three-foot-long

05:24giants. They grow so big because the cold water has more oxygen. That way, more of it diffuses into the

05:31animal's body, and that allows it to grow bigger. Yeah, both as a creature and a nightmare.

05:36And how about this giant tube worm? Researchers found it accidentally while they were exploring

05:43the mysteries of the Pacific Ocean floor. They stumbled upon unusual hydrothermal vents.

05:49Volcanic heat is a thing that gets them going. As water seeps down through faults or cracks in the

05:55rock, these vents change their direction. When the water gets out of the vent, it's rich in different

06:01minerals and chemicals. Most animals wouldn't survive being around this toxic soup of chemicals,

06:06but not these tube worms.

06:12They came as a true surprise, because not only are they not bothered by these toxic vents and the

06:19almost boiling temperature of the water, but they developed entire ecosystems there. They're unique

06:25because they don't need sunlight to survive. Instead, small bacteria are their main source

06:30of energy. That bacteria gets their energy directly from these toxic chemicals. So, it's not photosynthesis,

06:37but a process called chemosynthesis. And these tube worms don't have mouths. These bacteria live

06:44inside them. Strange story, huh? Plus, these scary worms reach up to eight feet.

06:50Giant isopods are no better either. They lurk at the depths of the ocean of 1,640 feet or more below,

07:00far away from the sunlight, looking like some monstrous wood lice. They spend most of their time on the

07:06seabed, hoping to find some food falling from higher levels of the ocean. Check out their small hooked claws

07:13at the ends of their legs. Isopods use them to remain more stable while moving around the ocean floor.

07:19Since there's no light, they have long antennae that help them feel their way around. These sensory

07:26antennas are about half the length of their body. Giant isopods have pretty big eyes compared to their

07:32body size, too. They can grow over 12 inches from head to tail. And these fellas are really patient.

07:39Remember how we said animals down there rarely get food? Sometimes they need to wait for years to get

07:45a proper meal. That's why their metabolism is amazingly slow. Five years later, they can go for

07:53five years without eating anything. Imagine that. I get hungry just talking about this.

08:00In 2006, a biologist did research to compare the differences between the shallows and the deep sea

08:06regions. He realized the deep sea mirrors the island rule. First, isolated parts of land develop

08:13biodiversity you won't find anywhere else. Second, small-bodied life there grows much bigger when

08:20it's isolated compared to life on large land masses. Resources are limited, but also competition

08:26and predators. And we don't know much about these deep sea creatures. It's too expensive and too

08:33complicated to carry out such research. So we'll just wait for more raging storms to show us at least

08:40part of the monstrous world cold ocean depths hide. So imagine stumbling upon a creature so huge it

08:49could dwarf even the largest known marine animals today. Scientists discovered the fossils of this

08:54beast on England's coast and believe it once ruled the waves. The new species was named

09:01ichthyotitan severinensis. But thankfully for me, scientists nicknamed it the little stock monster.

09:08Its estimated lengths ranged from 72 to 85 feet long, almost as big as a blue whale. Megalodon can't

09:16even compare to this. It was only about 60 feet long. And what's crazy is that this fossil we found

09:22wasn't even an adult. So who knows what their actual size was? The first piece of the little stock

09:28monster was discovered in 2016 in the Westbury Formation. Researchers found a 3-foot-long jaw part

09:35that belonged to an unknown species. For years, this single fragment had been driving them crazy

09:41because they had no idea what that animal was. Then, in 2020, a miracle happened, of sorts. A father

09:49with his 11-year-old daughter found the second piece of fossil on a beach. This discovery led to more

09:55findings. Finally, in 2022, the last piece of the literal jaw puzzle was found, buried along the

10:02Somerset coast. This leviathan belonged to the Shastasaurid family. Both the little stock monster

10:09and other Shastasaurids had one ancestor. So all the species in this family are super similar to each

10:16other. For example, all of them were the largest marine reptiles ever to exist. Although our little

10:22stock monster is much larger, most Shastasaurids could grow up to only 69 feet long. And it's

10:28possible that the little stock monster, when fully grown, would reach up to 100 feet or even more.

10:35Both of their bodies were just perfect for cruising the ancient seas. These marine titans were elegant

10:41and slender, with an elongated snout. Other marine animals at the time were smaller and looked more

10:47like dolphins. Shastasaurids had long, paddle-like limbs adapted for efficient swimming. Their skulls

10:54show large eye sockets, which means they had excellent vision. If you were in the ocean,

10:59no matter what time it was or where you were hiding, they could spot you. They were also incredibly fast

11:05and could dive to great depths. Of course, all these things made them the most terrifying predators.

11:11They ate pretty much everything, including fish and squid, and you if you were there.

11:16They probably captured their prey like whales, opened their huge mouths, and literally sucked the

11:21fish in. What made the little stock monster especially scary is that it wins in the jaw competition.

11:29For other Shastasaurids, their jaws were a bit weaker, so they hunted smaller fish,

11:34kind of like today's orchids. They required vast amounts of food. This shows us that the Earth's

11:39Triassic oceans had rich, productive food webs. But the little stock monster has this unique feature.

11:45It could open its jaw almost 90 degrees upwards. It also had tons of powerful muscles around.

11:52Its jaws were horrifyingly strong. So while others were hunting some squids,

11:57the little stock monster probably hunted large fish and even other marine reptiles.

12:02Fossils of Shastasaurus have been found everywhere in the world, from North America to Asia. This means

12:08that these creatures dominated and terrorized the oceans for millions of years. Although even they

12:14weren't completely safe from scavengers. And that's exactly why we struggle to find these fossils now.

12:20Scavengers didn't leave any remnants of them. So while we have some fossils of this marine family,

12:26they mostly remain a mystery for us.

12:29They lived in the oceans about 200 million years ago, in the late Triassic period.

12:34The Earth looked completely different back then. All continents were united in one Pangea,

12:39a huge landmass. Some parts of this supercontinent were covered with lush conifer forests,

12:45while others were dry deserts and open prairies. It was before the famous Jurassic period.

12:51But there were already first pterosaurs and amphibians. It seems like those monsters were crazy resilient.

12:58The Triassic period was super unstable. But they survived through many changes in the environment.

13:03Well, until the last one. The Triassic extinction came out of nowhere. It was one of the Earth's

13:09big five extinction events. It wiped out almost all species on the planet, including these leviathans.

13:16It's still not clear what happened exactly. But it looks like there was a huge tectonic activity.

13:22Volcanoes in the oceans were going crazy back then. These massive volcanic eruptions have probably

13:28altered the climate and ocean chemistry, leading to the extinction of many species.

13:33Scientists have a theory that it might have happened because there was a rain of comets flying to our planet

13:39from the Oort cloud. This likely happens about every 200 million years or so. I wasn't around then,

13:45so I'm just guessing here. In any case, after the extinction, the Earth took some time to recover.

13:52Then it entered the famous Jurassic period. More terrifying sea monsters were on the way.

13:58One of them left us a colossal skull. This fossil is 150 million years old. And it also belonged to

14:05a sea beast from Jurassic times. They called it the Sea Rex. The name is very fitting. This monster

14:11could have broken a car in half with one bite. It was also discovered accidentally. A fossil enthusiast

14:18was walking along the Jurassic coast. This place is famous for having tons of ancient fossils,

14:23all because of the erosion in stormy weather. Typically, people find small spiral fossils here.

14:30However, this time, he discovered a giant sea monster fossil. Excited, he contacted scientists.

14:36They arrived at the spot right away and then had to carefully climb down a cliff to search for the rest of the skull.

14:42This fragment alone is six and a half feet long. Turns out, it's a newly discovered species of

14:48pliosaurs, giant predators of the ancient seas. Pliosaurs were among the largest marine predators

14:55ever. Some of them grew up to 40 feet long. They used their huge teeth to snatch and devour prey,

15:01including other reptiles. Well, at least those creatures are far gone. But what about the horrors

15:06that still live in our oceans? Recently, biologists discovered the world's longest animal,

15:13the one that's still alive to this day. They found it off Australia's coast, on the Gascoyne coast,

15:19a very mysterious and unexplored place. There, underwater vehicles stumbled upon a frightening

15:25150-foot-long siphonophore that's twice as long as many blue whales and three times as long as a humpback

15:33whale. Doesn't it kind of look like one of those toy string worms? But this creature isn't friendly

15:38at all. It's a string-like deep-sea predator. What's even more scary is that this isn't actually

15:45one creature. It's a colony of small clones working together as one. Basically, collective consciousness.

15:52Ooh, bored. Together, they stretch out like a single long string in the water. This creature might be

15:58the longest siphonophore ever found, and it was discovered at a depth of around 2,000 feet.

16:05Siphonophores, similar to jellyfish, capture their prey by dangling, stinging tentacles in the water.

16:11When their tentacles touch small crustaceans and fish, they get paralyzed, and then they're reeled up

16:17to the colony's body. Expeditions to Western Australia's underwater canyons were definitely worth

16:23it. Together with that siphonophore, scientists have discovered up to 30 potential new marine

16:28species. Among them were a new octopus or squid, a long-tailed sea cucumber, glass sponges, and giant

16:36hyroids, colonies of animals resembling upside-down jellyfish. None of them have been seen before in

16:43Australia. But most of them weren't as scary as the one that was recently discovered in the Gulf of

16:48Mexico. This creature is straight out of a sci-fi thriller, a 26-foot-long mangapenna squid or bigfin

16:56squid. It was discovered near an offshore oil rig at a depth of more than 7,800 feet. It has incredibly

17:04long elastic tentacles, which can be 15 to 20 times longer than its body. It holds them at right angles

17:11to its body, making it look even creepier, almost as if it has elbows. And yes, it's another deep-sea

17:18predator. These 10 tentacles probably help the squid trap their prey and drag it onto the seafloor.

17:24We barely know anything about this extraterrestrial-looking creature because they're very hard to

17:29find and study. And if you think their tentacles are awful, just check out these creatures with 20

17:35arms. This thing looks like a face-hugger. This new species is lurking in the frozen depths of

17:41Antarctica. Experts were searching for cryptic sea animals known as promachocrinus, or Antarctic

17:48feather stars. They're kind of similar to starfish and sea cucumbers, but have an otherworldly

17:53appearance and can live up to 6,500 feet below the surface. It's called the Antarctic strawberry

18:00feather star. Despite its pretty name, its appearance is anything but cute. It has a bizarre strawberry-like

18:06body from which 20 spindly arms branch off. Its coloring ranges from purple to dark reddish,

18:13and the arms all have different lengths and thickness. Who knows how many more of

18:19such scary creatures we'll discover in the future? That's it for today. So hey, if you pacified your

18:24curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends. Or if you want more, just click

18:29on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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