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The Deep Sea Hub

Welcome to the Deep Sea. Start up your submarine and decide on a destination.

EXPLORE

Climb aboard the submersible and dive down into the zones of the deep sea to uncover the secrets of the depths. Uncover the incredible life that survives at each zone, from the Sunlight Zone to the Abyss.

READ

Read the latest articles in the Deep Sea category over in our newsfeed. New discoveries are being made all the time in this mysterious other world, with ROVs and manned missions frequenting the depths.

DISCOVER

Discover the unique life that inhabits the deep sea ecosystem by browsing our fact file library or searching by category. This is regularly updated with new creature profiles, so stay tuned for more.

WATCH

Check out our Deep Sea Wonders video series to learn about deep sea creatures, their adaptations, and how they interact with each other and with their environment in complex biological communities.

ABOUT

THE DEEP SEA IS A TRULY FASCINATING REALM. IT IS AN EXPANSE OF MYSTERY, BEAUTY AND WONDER, WHICH HAS CAPTIVATED US SO MUCH THAT WE DECIDED TO CREATE A HUB FOR ALL THINGS DEEP-SEA-RELATED.

EXPLORE THE UNIQUE LIFE THAT THRIVES HERE BY READING OUR FACT FILES, WATCHING OUR SHORT FILMS, OR BROWSING THE LATEST NEWS ARTICLES RELATING TO THE DEEP OCEAN. ENJOY!

ABOUT

MORE TOPICS

Coming Soon: The Life of Cold Seeps

The majority of communities in the deep sea ecosystem must rely on the leftovers of productivity in shallower waters - the marine snow, and sunken carrion. But at cold seeps, we find another kind of producer.

Coming Soon: Life in the Pelagic Zone

The open ocean is an entirely different world to the benthic zone of the sea floor. The endless blue stretches away in all directions, while the black abyss hangs gaping below. Currents are stronger here. There is no shelter to be found, and food is hard to come by. But all the same, a plethora of life has found ways to survive here, from the surface, all the way down into the abyss.

Coming Soon: Life in the Benthic Zone

Deep sea life must choose whether to live on the bottom, or to brave the expansive open ocean of the midwater zone. Creatures that adapt to life in the midwater zone are known as pelagic, while creatures that evolve to be well-suited to an existence on or near the sea floor, are known as benthic or demersal. These two groups could not be more different, but which is a more effective way of life?

Symbiosis in the Deep Sea

Symbiosis in the deep sea allows creatures to survive the challenging environment. Symbiosis describes any kind of a close and long-term interaction between two different organisms. This phenomenon is found in nearly every ecosystem on the planet - allowing organisms to rely on others for food, shelter, or to act as a warning for nearby danger. But nowhere on Earth are creatures more uniquely adapted to relying on others than in the deep sea - a world of darkness, cold, and intense pressure. Let’s dive in, and take a closer look at the incredible role of symbiosis in the deep sea ecosystem.

Bioluminescence Explained

Bioluminescence in the deep sea is a natural phenomenon present in many deep dwelling species. The twinkling, flashing, pulsating lights are the result of a chemical reaction that produces light energy within the body of an organism. It is a common feature - a single adaptation uniting vastly different creatures, from bacteria and algae to cephalopods and sharks.

A Brief History of Deep Sea Discovery

As a species, we are driven by a desire to understand and make sense of the universe around us. We have landed people on the moon and sent probes into deep space to uncover the secrets of the cosmos. Despite all this, we still have explored just 5% of Earth’s oceans. Read the article for a brief history of deep sea exploration, and learn what's new in this exciting frontier of discovery.

Whale-Fall Ecosystems

Most nutrients in the deep sea are supplied by a steady stream of organic debris, known as marine snow. This is made up of dead plankton, animals, and excrement. Occasionally, something larger appears. A whale carcass will sink to the seabed, where it will support a complex biological community for up to 50 years. Deep sea creatures gather here to make the most of the concentrated store of nutrients, from giant sharks to tiny but fascinating bacteria.

Coming Soon: Life in the Pelagic Zone

The open ocean is an entirely different world to the benthic zone of the sea floor. The endless blue stretches away in all directions, while the black abyss hangs gaping below. Currents are stronger here. There is no shelter to be found, and food is hard to come by. But all the same, a plethora of life has found ways to survive here, from the surface, all the way down into the abyss.

Coming Soon: Life in the Benthic Zone

Deep sea life must choose whether to live on the bottom, or to brave the expansive open ocean of the midwater zone. Creatures that adapt to life in the midwater zone are known as pelagic, while creatures that evolve to be well-suited to an existence on or near the sea floor, are known as benthic or demersal. These two groups could not be more different, but which is a more effective way of life?

Symbiosis in the Deep Sea

Symbiosis in the deep sea allows creatures to survive the challenging environment. Symbiosis describes any kind of a close and long-term interaction between two different organisms. This phenomenon is found in nearly every ecosystem on the planet - allowing organisms to rely on others for food, shelter, or to act as a warning for nearby danger. But nowhere on Earth are creatures more uniquely adapted to relying on others than in the deep sea - a world of darkness, cold, and intense pressure. Let’s dive in, and take a closer look at the incredible role of symbiosis in the deep sea ecosystem.

Bioluminescence Explained

Bioluminescence in the deep sea is a natural phenomenon present in many deep dwelling species. The twinkling, flashing, pulsating lights are the result of a chemical reaction that produces light energy within the body of an organism. It is a common feature - a single adaptation uniting vastly different creatures, from bacteria and algae to cephalopods and sharks.

A Brief History of Deep Sea Discovery

As a species, we are driven by a desire to understand and make sense of the universe around us. We have landed people on the moon and sent probes into deep space to uncover the secrets of the cosmos. Despite all this, we still have explored just 5% of Earth’s oceans. Read the article for a brief history of deep sea exploration, and learn what's new in this exciting frontier of discovery.

Whale-Fall Ecosystems

Most nutrients in the deep sea are supplied by a steady stream of organic debris, known as marine snow. This is made up of dead plankton, animals, and excrement. Occasionally, something larger appears. A whale carcass will sink to the seabed, where it will support a complex biological community for up to 50 years. Deep sea creatures gather here to make the most of the concentrated store of nutrients, from giant sharks to tiny but fascinating bacteria.

Coming Soon: Life in the Pelagic Zone

The open ocean is an entirely different world to the benthic zone of the sea floor. The endless blue stretches away in all directions, while the black abyss hangs gaping below. Currents are stronger here. There is no shelter to be found, and food is hard to come by. But all the same, a plethora of life has found ways to survive here, from the surface, all the way down into the abyss.

Coming Soon: Life in the Benthic Zone

Deep sea life must choose whether to live on the bottom, or to brave the expansive open ocean of the midwater zone. Creatures that adapt to life in the midwater zone are known as pelagic, while creatures that evolve to be well-suited to an existence on or near the sea floor, are known as benthic or demersal. These two groups could not be more different, but which is a more effective way of life?

Symbiosis in the Deep Sea

Symbiosis in the deep sea allows creatures to survive the challenging environment. Symbiosis describes any kind of a close and long-term interaction between two different organisms. This phenomenon is found in nearly every ecosystem on the planet - allowing organisms to rely on others for food, shelter, or to act as a warning for nearby danger. But nowhere on Earth are creatures more uniquely adapted to relying on others than in the deep sea - a world of darkness, cold, and intense pressure. Let’s dive in, and take a closer look at the incredible role of symbiosis in the deep sea ecosystem.

Bioluminescence Explained

Bioluminescence in the deep sea is a natural phenomenon present in many deep dwelling species. The twinkling, flashing, pulsating lights are the result of a chemical reaction that produces light energy within the body of an organism. It is a common feature - a single adaptation uniting vastly different creatures, from bacteria and algae to cephalopods and sharks.

A Brief History of Deep Sea Discovery

As a species, we are driven by a desire to understand and make sense of the universe around us. We have landed people on the moon and sent probes into deep space to uncover the secrets of the cosmos. Despite all this, we still have explored just 5% of Earth’s oceans. Read the article for a brief history of deep sea exploration, and learn what's new in this exciting frontier of discovery.

Whale-Fall Ecosystems

Most nutrients in the deep sea are supplied by a steady stream of organic debris, known as marine snow. This is made up of dead plankton, animals, and excrement. Occasionally, something larger appears. A whale carcass will sink to the seabed, where it will support a complex biological community for up to 50 years. Deep sea creatures gather here to make the most of the concentrated store of nutrients, from giant sharks to tiny but fascinating bacteria.

NEWS

Black smoker vents, Puy des Folles Seamount

Shot by Schmidt Ocean Institute's ROV SuBastian during the Lost City Vents mission.

Siphonophores

Siphonophores and Pyrosomes are colonies of tiny organisms called zooids. They are one of nature's most remarkable creatures.

Fish

Ghost Sharks

The Chimaera, or Ghost Shark, exhibit a morphology unlike any other creature. They are named after a Greek monster that is made up of parts of different animals.

Sharks & Rays

Great White Sharks

Sharks help to increase the species diversity of our oceans by driving competition and controlling population sizes in the ocean ecosystem.

Invertebrates

The Giant Squid

The giant squid lurks down in the dark depths of the deep sea. The enormous eyes of the giant squid and sharp-toothed suckers make this a formidable predator.

Sharks & Rays

Megamouth Sharks

The Megamouth Shark swims with its mouth open wide to filter plankton from the water. They spend most of their lives down here in the Abyss, at times descending to 15,000 feet below.

Fish

The Sunfish

The Ocean Sunfish waves its large dorsal and anal fins to move itself, drifting through the open ocean. At almost 10 feet long and 14 feet tall, it is the largest bony fish on the planet.

Fish

The Giant Oarfish

Hanging vertically in the sunless depths of the ocean, the Oarfish undulates its dorsal fin to steady itself; a clever trick that makes the fish quite hard for predators to spot.

Fish

The Coelacanth

Once known only from fossils, the coelacanth was thought to have gone extinct around 65 million years ago in the late cretaceous, during the great extinction.

Sharks & Rays

Greenland Sharks

The Greenland shark is perhaps the most peculiar species of shark, found in the icy Arctic waters often at depths of 2,000 metres, down in the midnight zone of the ocean.

VIDEOS

Series: The Deep Sea Explained

The 'Deep Sea Explained' is an anthology of films about the broader topics concerning this mysterious and otherworldly ecosystem. The videos cover information relating to deep sea ecosystems, adaptations, exploration and the environment. Accompanying articles can be found by selecting 'read' below.

WATCH

READ

Deep Sea Explained

Deep Sea Gigantism | Why the Ocean Breeds Giants