10 Amazing and Interesting Facts About Oceans
Tags: Water, Oceans, Life, Top 10, Facts

1. 50% of all life on Earth is found in the Ocean

Matthew T Rader — Ocean’s life

72% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, yet 95% of the world below the surface remains unexplored. We have better maps of Mars and The Moon than we do of the ocean floor.

Nearly 50% of all life on Earth is also found in the ocean, but scientists estimate that at the very least a million more aquatic species have yet to be discovered.

2. Volcanic Eruptions

There are an estimated 1 million volcanoes underwater.

The good news is that they are not all active, with very few actually spewing out molten lava.

Nevertheless, around 80% of volcanic eruptions on the planet actually happen underwater.

The volcanic structures also create superheated vents that spew hot water deep underwater. These same vents can cause the surrounding water areas to reach temperatures of up to 400 degrees C. These deep vents have a special role to play in the ocean ecosystem, as a variety of life forms thrive near the superheated vents. Studying these vents could shed light on how life might possibly evolve on other planets in equally harsh places.

3. Cleaning Stations

NOAA — Ocean’s Cleaning Stations

Marine animals have something called “cleaning stations”.

At these stations fish, sharks, turtles, and other aquatic life, congregate to be cleaned by smaller shrimp and fish-like creatures.

When the animal approaches the cleaning station it will open it’s mouth and position it’s body in such a way as to signal that it needs cleaning, the cleaner fish will then remove and eat the parasites from the skin and even swim into the mouth and gills of any fish being cleaned.

4. The Loneliest Whale in the World

Bryan Thompson — Whale

For decades now, scientists have been tracking a mysterious song heard in the depths of the ocean. The song-like sounds have been identified as belonging to a single male whale trying to communicate with others.

The problem is that he produces sounds at the frequency of around 52 Hertz, but most other wave species sing at frequencies much lower, between 15 and 25 Hertz range.

Thus his singing goes unnoticed, no matter how hard he tries, and it’s been named “The Loneliest Whale in the World”.

5. Shipwrecks

NOAA — Shipwreck

It’s been estimated that roughly three million shipwrecks are right now resting at the ocean floor, as they slowly sank beneath the surface, never to be seen again, that they carried with them all their cargo, their gold, everything.

So as we speak, there are several billions worth of treasures waiting to be found at the bottom of the ocean.

“There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky” — some dude on internet

6. Deepstaria Enigmatica

2011ACVVV — Deepstaria Enigmatica

In 2012 a video from an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, spotted a highly unusual and surreal-looking creature.

It was captured over 1,000 meters below the surface floating around like a sheet or a blanket in the water

The creature was later revealed to actually be a form of a jellyfish, Deepstaria Enigmatica to be exact. Not much is known about the animal, other than that it lives at a depth of between 1,000 and 2,000 meters.

7. Deep-sea Gigantism

NATGEO — Giant Squid

There is something called, Deep-sea Gigantism, and it’s exactly what the name suggests. It’s the tendency for deep-sea animals to display a larger size than their smaller more common relatives.

For example the Giant and Colossal squid. The colossal is the larger of the two and can grow up to 14 meters long, the average length of a bus.

Another example is the Japanese Spider crab with a maximum leg span of almost 4 meters. There’s also the giant oarfish, which can become over 17 meters long, and the giant isopod which looks absolutely enormous, compared to its smaller relatives.

It’s not exactly known what is causing the creatures’ increased size. It could be the result of adaptation for scarcer food, greater pressure, the extreme temperature and complete lack of sunlight, or for other unknown reasons.

8. Harrison Okene — Lost at Sea

Harrison Okene

In early 2013, 3 days after a ship had capsized just outside the coast of Nigeria, a team of divers were sent down to look for the dead bodies of the ship’s crew, what they did not expect to find was someone still alive.

The ship’s cook Harrison Okene had, in complete darkness, survived for three days in a small pocket of air 30 metres below the surface, the only thing he had was a bottle of coca-cola.

His rescue was also captured on film and has gone quite viral ever since. His entire story can be watched here: Lost at Sea. A Survivor’s Story: Harrison Okene

9. The Bermuda Triangle

All disappearances

The Bermuda Triangle has long been considered to be a mysterious place with strange, paranormal activity, a place where ships and aircrafts alike can mysteriously disappear never to be seen again.

This is not the case at all, officially the triangle is not even considered to exist, in fact the Bermuda Triangle has as many disappearances as any other region of the ocean of similar size and a lot of the supposed mysteries about the place even happened outside of the triangle.

The only reason is considered paranormal is the work of popular culture.

10. Water Pollution — Ocean Acidification

Artem Beliaikin — Ocean Pollution

It should come as no surprise that water pollution is a big problem all around the world today. Our complete disregard for destroying something that is absolutely essential for life on this planet, is nothing short of astounding, and it’s not just about the life in the ocean.

It’s about life on Earth, humans included, millions of marine creatures, birds, and terrestrial animals are killed every year as the direct consequence of pollution.

In China, over 90% of the water in and around cities is polluted, which should come as a shock to no-one as they release around 60 million tons of waste into the ocean every single day.

The issue comes down to our inability to account for long-term effects, the fact that what we do now could literally mean life, or death in just a few short years.

But let’s not forget about our pollution of the skies. Global warming has an enormous effect on the oceans as well, about 30% to 40% of the carbon dioxide we release into the atmosphere dissolves into the ocean, rivers, and lakes. It reacts with the water to form carbonic acid and starts a process called “Ocean Acidification”.