Why Animals Get Creepier the Deeper You Go

Summary

This script delves into the enigmatic depths of Earth's oceans, revealing a plethora of bizarre and fascinating creatures that thrive in extreme conditions. From the eerie vampire squid to the monstrous gulper eel, each adaptation is a testament to evolution's ingenuity. The narrative underscores the importance of understanding and preserving these alien yet vital parts of our world, challenging our perceptions of the deep sea as a realm of darkness and fear.

Takeaways

• 🌌 The deep sea, despite its darkness and extreme conditions, is teeming with a variety of life forms that have evolved unique adaptations.
• 👀 Some deep-sea creatures have developed large, piercing eyes or even eyes inside transparent domes to navigate the dark depths.
• 🌐 Bioluminescence is a common trait among deep-sea creatures, used both for predation and defense mechanisms.
• 🌡️ The food chain in the deep sea is unpredictable, with creatures like the predatory tunicate and carnivorous sponges that are filter feeders in shallow waters becoming carnivores in the deep.
• 🦑 The vampire squid, despite its eerie appearance, is a detrivore that feeds on marine snow, showcasing the diverse survival strategies in the deep sea.
• 🦈 The big fin squid, inhabiting the deepest regions of the ocean, has long arms that may be used for dragging the sea floor or passively capturing food.
• 🐟 The gulper eel, with a mouth larger than its body, exemplifies the deep sea's strategy of consuming large meals when the opportunity arises due to the scarcity of food.
• 🎣 The anglerfish uses a bioluminescent lure to attract prey, highlighting the deep sea's use of advanced hunting techniques.
• 👁️‍🗨️ The barreleye fish has tubular eyes that can look upwards and even rotate to see through the front of its head, an adaptation for hunting in the deep sea's twilight zone.
• 🐡 The tripod fish, living in complete darkness, relies on its sensory fins to detect food, showing that vision is not the only sense that has evolved in the deep sea.
• 🐟 The hadal snailfish, found at record-breaking depths, is a translucent, scaleless creature that thrives in the most extreme parts of the ocean.

Q & A

What is the mesopelagic zone, also known as the Twilight Zone, and how deep does it extend?

The mesopelagic zone, also known as the Twilight Zone, is the uppermost layer of the deep sea. It extends from 200 meters to a thousand meters deep, where a little bit of light still penetrates but not much.

Why do some deep-sea creatures have red coloration in the Twilight Zone?

In the Twilight Zone, the first color to disappear is red due to its long wavelength and least energy. Some creatures have evolved to be shades of red, which makes them practically invisible at these depths.

What is the vampire squid's primary diet, and how does it collect its food?

The vampire squid is a detrivore that feeds primarily on marine snow, which is particulate matter that trickles down from higher up in the ocean. It collects marine snow on its mucous-laden filaments and slurps it down.

How deep do the big fin squids live, and what is unique about their appearance?

Big fin squids are thought to be the deepest occurring squid genus, with sightings as deep as 6212 meters. They have arms and tentacles that can be up to eight meters long, usually held at disconcerting right angles, giving them an otherworldly appearance.

What is the predatory tunicate, and how does it catch its prey?

The predatory tunicate is a deep-sea creature that lives from 600 to 1100 meters deep. It has an open mouth that small invertebrates and crustaceans sometimes drift into, and when they do, the tunicate's mouth quickly snaps shut, trapping the prey.

How do carnivorous sponges in the deep sea capture their prey?

Carnivorous sponges are covered in tiny spears and hooks that passively trap small swimming creatures. They rely on ocean currents to sweep prey into their spines, which they then consume.

What is unique about the gulper eel's mouth, and how does it benefit the eel in the deep sea?

The gulper eel's mouth is larger than the rest of its body and is loosely hinged, allowing it to swallow animals much larger than itself. This adaptation is crucial in an environment with limited food, as it allows the eel to gorge on a massive meal when the opportunity arises.

How do anglerfish use bioluminescence for hunting, and what are their lures composed of?

Anglerfish use bioluminescence for hunting by employing a lure attached to their heads, which consists of an illicium (modified dorsal spine) and an esca (bulbous bioluminescent fishing lure). The esca's glow comes from symbiotic bacteria, attracting prey to their mouths.

What adaptation allows the barrel-eye fish to see its prey even when its mouth is moving to eat?

The barrel-eye fish has tubular eyes that are directed upward for spotting prey overhead. These eyes can roll forward to see through the front of their heads as well, providing a 75-degree arc of vision, allowing them to keep their prey in view even as they move to eat.

How do tripod fish, which live in complete darkness, manage to catch food without relying on sight?

Tripod fish balance on the sea floor with elongated pelvic fins and use their pectoral fins like hands to sense water currents and objects. They rely on their sense of touch and the vibrations in the water to detect and catch food.

What is the deepest fish ever found, and in which zone of the ocean does it live?

The deepest fish ever found is a type of hadal snailfish, living 8336 meters below the surface. It was found in a marine trench near Japan and likely inhabits the hadal zone, the deepest part of the ocean.

Outlines

00:00

🌌 Mysterious Creatures of the Deep Sea

This paragraph delves into the enigmatic depths of the Earth's oceans, revealing a world of life that thrives in extreme conditions. It discusses the unique adaptations of deep-sea creatures, such as the vampire squid with its red skin and large eyes, and the big fin squid with its long arms that can reach up to eight meters. The paragraph also touches on the unusual food chain in the deep sea, where creatures like the predatory tunicate and carnivorous sponges have evolved from filter feeders into carnivores. The adaptations are a result of millions of years of evolution to survive in an environment with no sunlight and crushing pressure.

05:02

🐙 The Twilight Zone and Beyond: Adaptations of Deep Sea Creatures

The second paragraph explores the 'Twilight Zone' of the deep sea, where the first color to disappear is red due to its long wavelength and low energy. Creatures like the vampire squid use this to their advantage by being nearly invisible in their environment. The paragraph also describes the big fin squid, which inhabits the hadal zone, the deepest region of the ocean. It discusses how some organisms, like the gulper eel and anglerfish, have evolved to capture prey in the deep sea, using large mouths and bioluminescent lures. The anglerfish, in particular, is highlighted for its ability to consume large quantities of food at once due to its highly flexible jaws and inward-pointing teeth.

10:03

👀 Vision and Predation in the Abyss

This paragraph focuses on the unique visual adaptations of deep-sea creatures that live in complete darkness. It introduces the Pacific barreleye fish, which has tubular eyes that allow it to see prey above it, even when they are using bioluminescence for camouflage. The fish's eyes can rotate to provide a 75-degree field of view, a remarkable feature that enables it to keep its prey in sight at all times. The paragraph also mentions other deep-sea creatures that have forgone vision altogether, like the tripod fish, which relies on its sensory fins to detect food in the absence of light.

15:03

🌊 The Connection Between Ocean Depths and Human Evolution

The final paragraph shifts focus from the deep sea to human evolution and the capabilities of humans who have lost their sight. It mentions 'human sonar,' a technique that allows blind individuals to navigate using sound, and the surprising ability of some blind people to complete obstacle courses without realizing they have done so. The paragraph concludes by promoting a streaming platform called Nebula, which offers educational content from various YouTube creators, including the producer of the video script. Nebula is described as a platform for original content and a place for creators to take risks and post early videos, with a special offer for subscribers to access the platform and its classes at a discounted rate.

Keywords

💡Mesopelagic

The mesopelagic, also known as The Twilight Zone, is the uppermost layer of the deep sea extending from 200 meters to a thousand meters below the surface. It is characterized by the presence of very little light, with red being the first color to disappear due to its long wavelength and least energy. This layer is significant in the video as it sets the stage for understanding the adaptations of deep-sea creatures to low-light environments. An example from the script mentions how creatures in the Twilight Zone use the absence of red light to their advantage by evolving to be shades of red, making them nearly invisible.

💡Vampire Squid

The vampire squid is a deep-sea creature that inhabits the mesopelagic zone. Despite its eerie appearance with red skin and large eyes that seem to glow, it is not a bloodthirsty predator but a detrivore, feeding on marine snow. The video script describes the vampire squid as having a suppressed metabolism, allowing it to survive on the low nutritional value of marine snow. This example illustrates how deep-sea creatures have evolved unique strategies to thrive in their environment.

💡Marine Snow

Marine snow refers to the particulate matter that descends from the upper layers of the ocean, composed of decaying organic material such as crustaceans, zooplankton, larvae, diatoms, and fecal matter. It is a vital food source for deep-sea creatures like the vampire squid, as highlighted in the script. The concept of marine snow is crucial for understanding the unusual food chain in the deep sea, where sunlight is absent, and photosynthesis cannot occur.

💡Magnapinna

Magnapinna, or the big fin squid, is a genus of squid that inhabits the deepest parts of the ocean, known to reach depths of 6212 meters. The script describes these squids as having arms and tentacles that can be up to eight meters long, held at unusual right angles, giving them an otherworldly appearance. The big fin squid represents the extreme adaptations that deep-sea creatures undergo to survive in the hadal zone, the deepest region of the ocean.

💡Predatory Tunicate

The predatory tunicate is a deep-sea organism that belongs to the family Acidiidae, commonly known as sea squirts. Unlike their shallow-water counterparts that are filter feeders, the predatory tunicate has evolved to become a carnivore in the deep sea. The script mentions how these tunicates have an open mouth that snaps shut when small invertebrates or crustaceans drift by, showcasing the adaptation of deep-sea creatures to become effective predators in an environment with limited food sources.

💡Carnivorous Sponges

Carnivorous sponges are a family of organisms that transition from being filter feeders in shallow waters to active predators in the deep sea. As described in the script, these sponges are covered in tiny spears and hooks that passively trap small swimming creatures. This adaptation is an example of how deep-sea creatures have evolved to exploit the scarcity of food in their environment, turning what might be considered stationary or passive organisms into effective predators.

💡Gulper Eel

The gulper eel is a deep-sea fish found at depths over 1800 meters. Notable for its large mouth that is larger than the rest of its body, it can swallow prey much larger than itself. The script illustrates this by mentioning that its mouth can balloon up to an impressive size, allowing it to consume large meals when the opportunity arises. This adaptation is crucial for survival in the deep sea where food is scarce.

💡Anglerfish

Anglerfish are a diverse group of deep-sea fish known for their unique hunting method involving a bioluminescent lure attached to their heads. The script explains that this lure, composed of a modified dorsal spine and a glowing bulb, attracts prey in the dark depths where the anglerfish reside. The anglerfish's ability to consume large quantities of food at once, as mentioned in the script with the example of a black sea devil, highlights the importance of seizing opportunities to feed in the deep sea.

💡Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism, often used for various purposes such as predation, communication, or camouflage. The script describes how some deep-sea creatures use bioluminescence for predation, like the anglerfish, while others use it for counter-illumination to disguise their silhouette against the faint light from above. This adaptation is a testament to the diverse strategies that deep-sea creatures have developed to survive in the dark and often hostile environment.

💡Barreleye Fish

The barreleye fish, or Macropinna microstoma, is a deep-sea fish with a unique adaptation that allows it to see in the dark. As described in the script, it has tubular eyes that point upward, enabling it to spot prey swimming overhead. The fish's eyes can also rotate to see through the front of its transparent head, providing a wide field of vision. This adaptation is an extraordinary example of how deep-sea creatures have evolved to perceive their environment in the absence of sunlight.

💡Hadal Snailfish

The hadal snailfish is a translucent, scaleless fish found at extreme depths, down to 8336 meters below the surface. As mentioned in the script, this fish was discovered in a marine trench near Japan and is likely one of the deepest-living fish ever found. The hadal snailfish represents the extreme adaptations that organisms can develop to survive in the most crushing and dark environments on Earth, highlighting the resilience and diversity of life in the deep sea.

Highlights

The deep sea is home to some of the most mysterious and strange creatures on Earth.

Creatures in the deep sea have evolved unique adaptations to survive in extreme conditions.

Some deep-sea creatures have enormous eyes or no eyes at all to adapt to the darkness.

Bioluminescence is used for both defense and predation in the deep sea.

The food chain in the deep sea is unpredictable, with filter feeders evolving into carnivores.

The mesopelagic zone, or 'The Twilight Zone,' is where the first color to disappear is red.

Vampire squids are detritivores that feed on marine snow and have a suppressed metabolism.

The big fin squid is the only known squid to occupy the hadal zone, the deepest part of the ocean.

Predatory tunicates and carnivorous sponges are examples of filter feeders that have become carnivores in the deep sea.

The gulper eel has a large mouth that allows it to swallow prey much larger than itself.

Anglerfish use bioluminescent lures to attract prey in the deep sea.

Some deep-sea creatures use counter-illumination to disguise themselves against the faint light from above.

The Pacific barreleye fish has tubular eyes that allow it to see prey above it despite having a small mouth.

The tripod fish, living in complete darkness, relies on its sense of touch to detect prey.

The hadal snailfish is the deepest-living fish ever discovered, living 8336 meters below the surface.

Deep-sea creatures invoke a sense of creepiness due to their alien-like adaptations and unfamiliarity to humans.

Despite their strange appearances, deep-sea creatures are vital parts of our world's ecosystem.

Transcripts

not all of the darkest strangest corners

of the universe are in some distant

Galaxy millions of light years away in

fact the most mysterious of these dark

places is right here on Earth a place

with no sunlight crushing pressure and

near freezing temperatures is not the

desolate Wasteland that one might expect

it to be

it is instead populated with a huge

variety of life life that takes shape in

ways that our terrestrial Minds can

barely comprehend

some creatures of the deep have enormous

piercing eyes others have no eyes at all

and others still have eyes inside their

transparent domed heads others glow for

defense or glow for predation and at

these depths where photosynthesis cannot

occur the food chain becomes a little

unpredictable

some creatures typically classified as

filter feeders have even evolved to

become unlikely terrifying carnivores

others become such effective predators

that their mouths are bigger than the

rest of their entire body or have teeth

that pierce the darkness in every

direction

from the Ethereal to the spooky the dark

sea holds a world of adaptations that

jars the imagination and the deeper you

go the creepier it seems to get

what is it exactly about the deep dark

sea that creates some of the wildest

creatures ever discovered and is there a

reason we can't help but find them to be

bone chillingly creepy

the uppermost layer of the deep sea is

the mesopelagic AKA The Twilight Zone

and it extends from 200 meters to a

thousand meters a little bit of light

still penetrates at these depths but not

much the very first color to disappear

is red because it has the longest

wavelength and the least energy of the

visible spectrum

and a lot of creatures that spend time

in the Twilight Zone use this to their

advantage evolving to be shades of red

that render them practically invisible

at these depths

enter the vampire squid catching a

glimpse of it in the lights of a

submersible you might understand why it

got such a ghastly name on top of its

red skin it has enormous eyes that seem

to glow and spine-like protrusions from

its tentacles all give it a far more

fearsome look than the cephalopods of

shallower waters but just as its red

color seems Eerie to us but has a vital

evolutionary purpose so too do its other

Sinister looking features

despite its spooky name vampire squid

are not actually bloodthirsty Hunters

unlike almost all other cephalopods this

creature is a detrivore it gets almost

all of its calories from Marine snow

Marine snow is particulate matter that

trickles down from higher up in the

ocean and is made of decaying

Crustaceans zooplankton larvasion houses

diatoms and fecal matter

the vampire squid has four arm pairs

with finger-like tendrils called Siri

plus two long retractable filaments it

sits practically motionless around

depths of 600 to 900 meters slowly

collecting Marine snow on its

mucous-laden filaments and slurping it

down

scientists were surprised to discover

that Marine snow has a pretty high

nutritional value but the vampire squid

still doesn't have a whole lot of energy

to expend they get by thanks to having a

suppressed metabolism much much lower

than any other cephalopod of a

comparable size

but as you descend deeper the

cephalopods become even more terrifying

the genus magnapina or the big fin squid

are thought to be the deepest occurring

squid genus with sightings as deep as

6212 meters this makes the big fin squid

the only known squid to occupy the hadle

Zone the deepest region of the ocean

their arms and tentacles can be up to

eight meters long and are usually held

at disconcerting right angles the squid

giving itself the appearance of having

elbows and its translucent shimmering

mantle makes the creatures seem

completely otherworldly

little is known about the feeding

behavior of these squids scientists have

speculated that they might use their

long arms by dragging them along the sea

floor and grabbing whatever edible

organisms that they can

alternatively the arms might passively

grab food such as zooplankton or bits of

marine snow

but in an environment without any plant

life to form the base of the food chain

being a detrivore is far from the only

strategy in fact a number of organisms

that are herbivores or filter feeders in

shallower parts of the ocean become

carnivores in the deep sea

that's the case with the predatory

tunicate it belongs to the acidian

family who are also known as sea squirts

a class of colorful stationary filter

feeders that generally live in shallow

water but the predatory tunicate lives

much deeper anywhere from 600 to 1100

meters and perhaps even deeper

these tunicates are perhaps less

terrifying than the big fin squid but

just as strange they look almost like an

eyeless sock puppet with its mouth open

but this odd design has an important

purpose to help them catch prey

as small invertebrates and Crustaceans

swim by they sometimes drift into the

predatory tunicate's open mouth that

mouth quickly snaps shut and the prey is

trapped facing a slow death by digestion

this is also the case with a whole

family of organisms known as carnivorous

sponges they generally start appearing

at 200 meters become fairly common at

four to five hundred meters and remain

dominant all the way down to the hadle

Zone below 6 000 meters

shallow water sponge species are filter

feeders like sea squirts living on

bacteria and phytoplankton they're even

harvested as shower loofahs their porous

bodies being a good mechanism to hold

and form soap bubbles

but you most definitely do not want to

wash yourself with a carnivorous sponge

and that's because they're covered in

tiny Spears and hooks used to passively

trap small swimming creatures the

sponges don't have to do much work

whether it's the harp sponge with its

long rows of spines or the ping pong

tree sponge with its bulbous spheres

these stationary organisms are highly

effective Predators they just wait for

the ocean currents to sweep creatures

into their spines and then they feast

despite this abundance of passive

carnivores there are plenty of hunters

in the deep sea as well

one such startling specimen is the

gulper eel found at depths over 1800

meters in the midnight zone its mouth is

larger than the rest of its entire body

and is Loosely hinged so that it can

swallow animals much larger than itself

its proportions may be off-putting but

in an environment with limited food

being able to gorge on a massive meal

when you have the chance is crucial its

massive mouth can also be used to make

itself look intimidating by ballooning

up to a hilarious degree

but most infamous among the deep sea

Hunters might be the anglerfish most of

which live below 300 meters but some can

be found down to the abyssopelagic Zone

all the way at 6 000 meters

there are hundreds of species that fall

under the catch-all term of anglerfish

which comes from the way they generally

hunt with a lure attached to their heads

to attract prey this is comprised of an

Elysium the modified dorsal spine that

acts as a fishing rod and an eska the

bulbous bioluminescent fishing lure

which gets its glow from symbiotic

bacteria

and by using these lures anglerfish

attract a variety of prey species to

their gaping mouths and they've been

known to consume absurd quantities of

food all at once

researchers once captured a black sea

devil that weighed 8.8 grams but its

stomach held 12.3 grams worth of eels in

other words its stomach alone managed to

hold one and a half times its body

weight in food

to be able to consume whatever they come

across anglerfish have highly flexible

jaws and generally have teeth that point

inward meaning that whenever they trap

their prey there's little chance of the

creature escaping

and just like the gulper eel their

strategy of gorging themselves whenever

they can get a meal is a huge advantage

in an environment where food is scarce

while some creatures use bioluminescence

for predation others use it to disguise

themselves a strategy called counter

illumination the lights on their bellies

helps obscure their outline against the

very faint patches of light coming from

above

but there are some predators who have

found ways to see their prey

camouflaging in this way and perhaps the

most incredible of these is macro Penna

microstoma or the Pacific barilai fish

arguably the craziest looking fish in

the entire ocean

these fish have enormous tubular eyes

that are directed upward allowing them

to see prey swimming overhead and these

eyes are encased inside their head

closed in by a transparent Shield their

vision is so good that they can not only

pick out the Silhouettes of their prey

even if it's using bioluminescence but

also gauge the depth they're swimming at

and therefore their distance from them

but initially scientists were confused

about how it could effectively hunt when

its tiny mouth points in a different

direction than its eyes

they wouldn't be able to keep their eyes

on the prey while moving their mouth to

eat it but the scientists were shocked

to discover that the eyes can roll

forward and see through the front of

their heads as well as the top for a

maximum Arc of 75 degrees for comparison

humans can only move our eyes about 45

degrees at most for us to do what Barrel

I fish do we would essentially be able

to look directly up at our brains

this strange adaptation allows Barrel

life fish to keep their prey in view at

all times even as it snaps its body

vertically to snatch the food swimming

above it but barrel-eye fish live in the

Twilight Zone where there's still a tiny

bit of light available for them to make

use of what about fish that are even

deeper down in the bathy pelagic or even

abyssopelagic all the way down to 6000

meters with no sunlight penetrating

these depths and with little need to

detect bioluminescence some deep sea

creatures forego Vision altogether like

the tripod fish instead of it relying on

sight they balance on the sea floor like

little tripods waiting for other

creatures to swim by

their elongated pelvic fins stretch down

to the ground holding the motionless and

upright while they use their pectoral

fins like hands Reaching Forward these

fins are filled with enlarged spinal

nerves which helps them sense the water

currents and whatever objects might

float their way from small Crustaceans

to fish in this way they're essentially

able to sit tight and wait for food to

come to them even though they can't see

it and while these fish are certainly

deep they are by no means the deepest

ones recently scientists exploring a

marine trench near Japan were stunned to

find a fish living

8336 meters below the surface the

deepest fish anyone has ever found and

is likely to ever find

what they found is a type of hadal

snailfish a translucent scaleless

tadpole-shaped creature little is known

about this ghostly ethereal fish that

thrives in a place named after Hades

itself is this deepest of fish the

creepiest maybe not though it's

certainly not winning any beauty

contests but from the beginning of the

ocean depths just as sunlight disappears

down to the crushing depths of the

deepest trenches there's no denying that

the creatures who live here seem like

characters out of the darkest corners of

our imagination and yet every freaky

adaptation is something crafted by

millions of years of evolution to live

in such an unusual environment

it's not hard to see why deep sea

creatures invoke creepy feelings in us

the creatures are nothing like the ones

we see in our daily lives and without

the Advent of Robotics we would never be

able to see them in their natural

habitat their habitat is so far removed

from us that we liken it to the

underworld and for whatever reason

Humanity subscribes to the archetype

that the sky holds possibilities

euphoric Cloud nines and Heaven itself

whereas The Depths hold fears secrets

and eternal death perhaps this is no

surprise as intelligent air-breathing

mammals that what is bright and known is

safe to us and the unfathomable sea

mysterious dark and otherworldly is not

but our ancestral Consciousness perhaps

never grasped that the world is all

connected that the Bountiful Rivers

ensures that we rely on are directly

linked to the deepest parts of the sea

that what's seems alien is in fact a

vital part of our world and deserves our

consideration care and protection like

any other part of our planet

the evolution of ocean creatures is

undeniably fascinating for all the

freaky and foreign adaptations that

excite our imaginations but some of the

most astonishing adaptations on Earth

happen right here on land and in our own

species human eyesight is one of the

most complex biological processes we

know of but what's even more amazing is

what individuals who have lost their

sight are still able to see human sonar

allows people without sight to see with

sound and other individuals who lost

their sight due to damage to their

visual cortex can still complete

obstacle courses with no knowledge that

they even did so these phenomena are the

subject of the next real science video

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