Bioluminesence

The deep abyss

Let us travel ..

What if I told you, my dear reader, that there was an entirely alien world on our planet that most of us do not even take the time to acknowledge.

Where would you think this alien world might be, I wonder?

If you thought the germs in your toilet … well I do suppose that you might be correct to a degree, but that “alien world” was not the one I was referring to and neither is it in the opposite gender’s underwear!

As you can see beloved reader, there are a myriad of “worlds” just waiting to be discovered, all the way from something as simple as your toilet all the way to something as complex as the universe.

So now dear reader, which world and its inhabitants shall we be looking at today!

Today we shall be looking at the depths of the ocean and some of its peculiar creatures as well as the stunning role that the beauty of bioluminescence plays down in the deep

The setting of our grand expedition

Let us now visualize where on Earth we are!

I want you to think of the deepest hole you can think of. Now to that hole, add the crushing pressure of 15750 psi (1086 bars), that is more than a thousand times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level! Once you have done that, you can now subtract the light of the sun from this entire equation.

Do you know where we are yet?

Yes, you guessed right, we’re at the bottom of the Mariana trench, located in the Pacific Ocean.

The Mariana Trench

Now, this next part may bore you but let us now discuss what exactly the Mariana trench is. Please do leave an upvote because after this short “geography lesson”, things are going to get far more exciting. Not as exciting as 50 shades of grey though, but pretty damn close.

The Mariana trench

Now if you are familiar with the Mariana trench, please do skip this part, but if you are familiar with it because of either the Movie Life of Pi, the book Life of Pi or simply because you have never heard of it before, read on and expand the reaches of your mind because sometimes knowing things can help you out in a way? However, I am not entirely sure if this information will be life changing to you in any way shape or form, but it could come in handy if you are trying to impress a potential life partner with the vastness of your intellect!

I seem to have digressed somewhat … you have my apologies. Let us get back to the topic at hand, shall we.

So then, the Mariana Trench or Marianas Trench is in the western Pacific Ocean and is located to the east of the Mariana islands by some 2000 Km (124 mi). It is also the deepest naturally occurring point in the world!

It is a crescent moon shaped through in the Earth’s crust with a length of approximately 2250 kilometers long and is 69 kilometers wide and the maximum known depth is 10994 meters. As you can imagine, that's pretty big and deep.

The Mariana Trench

Creatures of the deep

So, if you think Dracula’s fangs in Brahm Stokers books were impressive wait until you see the chompers on some of these spooky creatures.

The spooky creatures

A hatchetfish

An Anglerfish

The Mariana Snailfish

The role of bioluminesence

Let us now tackle the main reason we’re all here reading this article or in my case, writing it.

So, what is bioluminescence? What is its role in the ocean depths? Just … what’s going on!

Well to answer your questions, I shall answer them, that is my role as a writer, I think?

It is a little-known fact that most of the organisms in the ocean give off a certain light that is visible. This is known as bioluminesence or living light.

The light given of from these organisms are used as defense mechanisms, the organisms flash as though they are screaming for help and is sometimes known as a bioluminescent burglar alarm, it is meant to cast unwanted attention onto the intruder thereby leading to the intruders capture or scaring it away.

The are other organisms that use bioluminesence in different ways for defense, for example, there is a shrimp that casts of bioluminesence the same way an octopus would squirt ink cloud. This act blinds or distracts the predator.

Another reason that bioluminesence is so prominent so deep down is because the light of the sun cannot go down to such depths and hence the organisms were forced to evolve into making their own light.

It is also used to attract a mate so that they both may add together and multiply, you know what I’m talking about.

Conclusion

In closing, I would like to take the time and thank you all for reading this little article and I do hope you have taken something from this. So, feel free to ask any questions that you may have and I’ll try my level best to answer them. One more thing, this is my first Steemit post so please do tell me where I might improve.

The End

Referances:

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Bioluminesence | Ecency