A Mysterious Line in the Sea Is Quietly Organizing Marine Life

Amaze Lab

The bottom of our planet’s oceans remain a dark and mysterious place, but recently scientists have made a sweeping discovery about the depths below. According to a recent study, once you dive past a depth of 14,436 feet, or just over 2-and-a-half miles, the creatures who dwell there change dramatically.

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00:00The bottom of our planet's oceans remain a dark and mysterious place.

00:08But recently scientists have made a sweeping discovery about the depths below.

00:12According to a recent study, once you dive past a depth of 14,436 feet, or just over 2.5 miles,

00:19the creatures who dwell there change dramatically.

00:22The sea is known for its shells, the remnants of mollusks which have since died and vacated.

00:26But below that line you won't find any of those hard-shelled creatures.

00:29Instead, you will only see soft-bodied ones.

00:32The researchers say this likely has to do with a lack of mineral deposits at those extreme depths,

00:37something which needs to be bioavailable for creatures to grow such exoskeletons.

00:41With the researchers writing, quote,

00:43This overlooked heterogeneity, stemming from geochemical and climatic forcing,

00:47has crucial implications for future ecological and macroecological research in abyssal communities.

00:53Adding that this could provide some crucial data points for new conservation strategies.

00:57But despite all of the creatures having soft bodies, that isn't to say the ocean floor lacks biodiversity.

01:02While investigating the bottom of the ocean, the research team catalogued some 50,000 deep-sea dwellers.

01:09Coven from the ocean, the water and the earth.

01:14And here we go 2?

01:16We can do that.

01:17We can't do it.

01:18We can do it.

01:20We can do it.

01:21We can do it.

01:22We can do it.

01:23And, let's keep it.

01:24We can do it.

01:25We can do it.

01:26We can do it.

01:27And we can do it.

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