I am not a fan of the ocean. If I had one fear, it’s definitely dark, open water. It’s the fear of the unknown, and the sheer scale of it that really gets me. Oceans cover a majority of the Earth’s surface, and we’ve actually explored more of outer space than our own oceans. Well that’s mostly because a lot of the chartered territories are empty and barren, but there’s still a lot of stuff we don’t know about our own oceans. 

One of the most fascinating things found in the ocean are definitely the animals, and the deeper you go, the weirder they get. Sunlight can’t really penetrate that far into the water, so after a couple hundred meters it’s all dark. There’s also a matter of pressure, all that water pressing down can reach thousands of pounds per square inch. 

Things that have managed to survive in such an inhospitable environment are bound to be pretty weird. There are some creatures found in the deep that look positively alien, and it got me thinking; if life on Earth can be this strange and unfamiliar, what will we find on other planets if we ever discover life on it? 

There’s a youtube channel that I follow called EVNautilus, an organization of deep sea ocean explorers that goes on expeditions all over the world in search of discovering new species and understanding more about how life goes on down there. It’s heartwarming seeing these scientists so excited when they find something interesting, it’s clear that they have passion for what they do. I highly recommend watching their content and seeing all the wonderful and strange creatures that live deep in the ocean.