What Would a Trip to the Mariana Trench Be Like?

Have you ever wanted to dive into the deepest parts of the ocean? Well, today you are going to have this opportunity! Now how good are you at holding your breath? Not so good? Okay, do not worry. Come aboard my submersible craft and join me on the journey to the deep! Ready? let's dive! Right now, just below the surface, you see that life is thriving here. Fish and marine animals abound, and hello! — the swimmers are waving to us. But we won't be staying here for long. Bye bye! At 65 feet, there's a whole new world opening up before your eyes: shallow coral reefs loom beautifully not far offshore.

And hey, there are people here again! However, this time they are divers. The water pressure is not kind to divers without special equipment. 130 feet is the depth at which we say goodbye even to recreational divers: it is the maximum allowed for them. Take care guys! 200 feet, and here is the first orca! These whales inhabit the relatively shallow waters of almost all of the world's seas and oceans. Did you know that they are apex predators, by the way? It means that they have no natural enemies and no one can shoot them down. At 230 feet we encounter whale sharks, the largest known fish species, weighing up to 60 tons.

And they also have pretty long-livers: well, yes, I guess their livers are long, but it's really about their lifespan: they can live about 130 years. Now look outside: if you see a diver, he's a real pro, because at 330 feet they'll have to be very careful not to get decompression sick. It happens if you rise too quickly to the surface. And if you're lucky, you might also spot a giant Pacific octopus - it inhabits cold waters from this depth and as low as 6,600 feet. And now we are entering the dark part of the ocean: at 490 feet, only 1% of the light from the surface reaches us.

All the rest is absorbed by the water. Everything that is deeper will become darker and darker still. Oh look! At 660 feet, there's a giant oarfish circling our submersible. These creatures are believed to be the source of all sea serpent sightings, and many alliterations! Sometimes they swim to the surface and scare sailors and bathers. No wonder: these fish can reach 36 feet in length, enough to scare me, for example. Okay, now we're at 980 feet and…wait,

what

's that big gangly thing out there? Oh I get it, it's a Japanese spider crab! Why a spider, you ask? Well, just look at those legs and the answer will come to you without further prompting.

By the way, they have almost nothing but legs: the body of such a crab is normally only 1.5 feet across. Going deeper now, and at 1,640 feet, you'll see the last of the blue whales, no, not really the last of them, I mean, that's as deep as they can swim. They don't really need to dive that deep for food, which they have in abundance in shallower water, but they still can. I guess it's just to show how awesome they are. After all, they are the largest creatures in Earth's history, both in the sea and on land! Shh… are you listening to this?

These are the sounds that fin whales make to talk to their friends many miles away. They can do so thanks to the SOFAR channel, or Deep Sea Channel, which usually starts at 600m but can vary in depth. It is a layer of water where the speed of sound is minimal and sound waves can travel thousands of kilometers before disappearing. At the depth of 800 meters we have reached the point where the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world,

would

not even show its top on the surface if it were submerged underwater. Hey, let's try that! Now we are entering the really interesting part of the ocean, where the sunlight does not reach us and strange creatures inhabit it.

One of them is the giant squid, yes, that legendary type. It inhabits depths of 2950 feet. Imagine the creature with eyes the size of frisbees! Sperm whales hunt these beasts, but they can certainly fight back. What a spectacle it

would

be to see such an encounter! And that's where total darkness finally falls on us. The Midnight Zone. The pressure here is so great that if you somehow end up here without a submersible, you'll just be crushed in a couple of seconds. And that without seeing anything too much. Not the best of prospects. Anyway, at 3,600 feet, is West Mata, one of the deepest oceanic volcanoes in the world.

Its last eruption was in 2009, and it was even filmed by a remote-controlled vehicle! 4200 feet below, and we see the ferocious great white sharks: these ultimate predators feel great at such a depth. Their eyesight is quite poor and they navigate by smell, so they don't really need sunlight to hunt their prey. "I don't see you, but I'll still eat you." brr. In addition, leatherbacks, the largest turtles in the world, dive to the same depth. I wonder if they do it to annoy the great whites. See those huge nets? This is because we are now at a depth of 4900 feet, where the "catch all" method of fishing is used.

The nets are here to be dragged across the ocean floor, catching anything unlucky enough to get caught. I'll let you decide how detrimental this is to marine life here. At 6,000 feet, if we were in the Grand Canyon, we would be sitting at its lowest, deepest point. Imagine that all its cracks have been completely filled with water and you will get the perfect image. Now, if we are very careful, at a depth of 6,600 feet, we will be able to see the black dragon fish, a nightmarish creature that inhabits the deep and dark parts of the ocean. And believe me, it's better to stay there!

It looks like something out of a horror movie, and I'd rather you never cross my path. At 7400ft we say goodbye to sperm whales - this is the deepest point they can dive and frankly they have nothing to do at that depth. Perhaps they hunt the black dragonfish, of course, or…does it hunt them? No, the size difference is just too great: sperm whales can reach 62 feet in length, making them the largest toothed whales in the world. Not many creatures can counter that. It's good that our submersible has a powerful searchlight; without it, we would not have been able to see the amazing beauty of deep-sea coral reefs located at a depth of 9,900 feet.

They can be found in all oceans, and it is a pity that they cannot be seen without special deep-sea diving equipment. Well, going even deeper, and at 12,100 feet we hit the average depth of the World Ocean. From now on, the journey to the real depths begins: the bottom of the general ocean has been passed, so now it's time to enter the Abyss. I won't tell you not to be afraid because the most terrifying creatures of the deep live here, below the Midnight Zone. And it doesn't end there: the pressure at the upper edge of the Abyss, at 13,100 feet, is like being trampled by a whole regiment of elephants.

Not that you have time to feel it though. At 15,000 feet, the monsters from your worst nightmares appear. The anglerfish, for example, will scare anyone: its long, crooked teeth coupled with a growth on its head that attracts prey are enough to instill fear in even the bravest. But perhaps even more terrifying is the creature called the black swallower. It is an eel-like beast that has a highly elastic stomach and can swallow prey twice its size! I don't know about you, but I prefer to turn off the lights so I don't see anything that deep in the ocean.

That? Want to see everything? ... All right, if you insist... Look down and you'll see the deepest shipwreck ever found: SS Rio Grande in the South Atlantic sank in 1941 and went as deep as 18,900 feet. No wonder she only found herself 55 years later. ! And now the deepest and darkest part of the ocean begins - we plunge into the Mariana Trench. Officially, it starts at about 19,700 feet down. It is both the least explored area and the most fascinating for scientists and adventurers alike. What's at the bottom of this? Well, we're about to see, but while we're not there yet, I'll show you something else.

For example, here's the deepest fish ever found: it's called a snailfish and it lives at 26,000 feet. His body is translucent, so you can actually see through his skin. Well, I must say, I'm glad we didn't turn out the lights, after all, this little guy is surprisingly cute for a creature that can take so much pressure. Going deeper and deeper, you will not see any other type of fish or vertebrate animal at all - the pressure is too much for such creatures. But there are shrimp and other invertebrates, not to mention microbes, that can live even in the deepest part of the ocean.

And that part is the Challenger Deep. It is the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and its depth is 35,853 feet. Yes, we have reached the bottom of the Earth. Few people have been here, and very little is still known about it. But scientists are not going to stop, and there is hope that soon we will discover

what

secrets the depths of the ocean hold. And you? Would you dare to explore the ocean on your own, given the chance? Let me know below in the comments! Hey, if you learned something new today, please like this video and share it with a friend.

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