I first launched Notes from the Deep one year ago, on Earth Day 2023.
A lot has happened since then – both in my personal life, and in the deep sea. I transitioned from graduate student to freelance journalist. I spent three months researching and writing in Norway, as the country decided to explore deep sea mining, with aims to be the first to do it commercially. Just before 2024 began, I returned to the US. I’ll be closely examining US deep sea activities as the year progresses.
I’m hoping my personal life is settled for a while, since there’s going to be much more to write about in the next 12 months. The updates keep coming. Just last week, Norway announced its cooperation agreement with Denmark and Greenland to gather knowledge about the seabed minerals it plans to exploit. Then, WWF-Norway (a branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature, a conservation organization) announced plans to take legal action against Norway’s government, claiming the country hasn’t met its own legal requirements to explore deep sea mining.
And scientists have recently linked rising sea levels in the North Atlantic to a warming deep sea in the Antarctic. Currents flowing from Antarctic depths impact water levels tens of thousands of miles away. Research like this shows that even without mining, the deep ocean faces problems, like human-caused warming – and that what happens in deep waters can affect the planet far and wide.
For now, to celebrate a full calendar year of Notes from the Deep, here are 12 fantastic deep sea creatures. A myth persists that the deep ocean is like a desert. But after all, even deserts are filled with life.
Enjoy, and happy Earth Day, and stay tuned!
1. Giant Phantom Jellies
These deep sea divers can be 33 feet long. They occupy the midnight zone: above the seafloor, but below the reach of sunlight. They’re also found in every ocean except the Arctic. Yet we still don’t know much about these huge jellies, which are rarely seen. Just more evidence of how vast and mysterious Earth’s oceans are.
2. Punk Rock Snails
Alviniconcha snails live in the super-hot waters of active hydrothermal vents, grouped together in thriving communities. Their spiked shells remind some scientists of punk rock’s spiked leather jackets. In fact, one species is named Alviniconcha strummeri, for Joe Strummer of punk band The Clash.
3. Xenophyophores
At first glance, you might think this was a sponge or coral. It’s actually a single-celled organism. And no, the image isn’t microscopic – this creature is almost eight inches wide. Xenophyophores use materials from their environments to build complex structures around themselves, called “tests.” On some parts of the seafloor, they’re the most common large lifeform. They support other lifeforms, too: there’s higher biodiversity in places with xenophyophores than in similar places that lack them.
4. Vent Barnacles
In many parts of the world, it’s hard to go to the beach and not see a barnacle. We often associate them with coastal environments. But other types of barnacles live on deep sea hydrothermal vents, in the hot, chemical-laced water. In general, barnacles are good at living in extreme places, which is why they’re relatively unfazed by coastal tides and human activity.
5. Marine Microbes
I’d be remiss not to mention the microbes that make life in the deep sea – and everywhere else – possible. (It’s a bit unfair of me to lump all deep sea microbes together, but I’m doing it because it’s hard to find good photos of them alone.) Each milliliter of seafloor sediment contains one billion bacteria – and that’s just one kind of microbial life. Some microbes also form “mats” that can be seen with the naked eye.
6. Blind Vent Crabs
There’s no light on the seafloor, except for what bioluminescent animals produce, so a lot of creatures just don’t use eyes. Yet that doesn’t slow them down: blind vent crabs are top predators at their hydrothermal vent homes. Symbiotic bacteria live on their shells and help protect them from the harsh minerals in vent water.
7. Snailfish
The deep sea is mostly home to invertebrates. But snailfish are specially adapted to live in the deepest parts of the sea: their bones are actually made of flexible cartilage, which holds up under the deep ocean’s high pressure. Researchers have found them over 27,000 feet below the surface. And they’re pretty cute, too! They’re often brightly colored, like this purple-pink one in front of the cusk eels.
8. Tubeworms
If you’re remotely interested in deep sea life, you’ve probably seen a tubeworm before. Yet they’re too striking not to mention. Tubeworms were first discovered in 1977 by scientists in search of hydrothermal vents, where they didn’t expect to find any life. (Imagine their surprise when they got there!) Now, we know that tubeworms can live for over 200 years, in bush-like groups that send “roots” into the seafloor to gather nutrients.
9. Sea Toads
Most anglerfish look toothy and terrifying. Not so the sea toad, a type of anglerfish that looks like a cartoon friend. Like other anglerfish, it does have a lure on its head for catching prey – but one that’s short and small and cute. There are a few different sea toad species, and they all like to sit around all day, on fins they use like little feet. If anyone makes a stuffed-animal version, I want one.
10. Swimming Sea Cucumbers
This sea cucumber is translucent, so you can see its guts. Still, it’s pretty enough to be a sculpture. And its particular gelatinous form allows it to swim, unlike other sea cucumbers that live in the sediment. Like all sea cucumbers, it’s a scavenger that helps keep the seafloor clean. But this swimming species also has the unique feature of sparkling bioluminescent skin.
11. Boneworms
There’s not one, but several, types of bone-eating worms in the deep sea. Terrifying? Maybe. But it’s also a really cool adaptation, allowing long-dead organisms to support new life. Boneworms, which are a variety of tubeworm, often live on skeletons of dead whales that fall to the seafloor. However, they can also suck nutrients out of other sources, like shark teeth. Sharks are living fossils that’ve been around for 450 million years. Could boneworms have evolved alongside them?
12. Sea Pens
As a writer, I’m naturally fond of sea pens, which are often quill-shaped. They live all throughout the ocean, from shallow to deep water, and they’re actually a type of coral. Sea pens are colonial, so each “one” you see is really a group of individual polyps, connected to a specialized central polyp that forms a stalk. They can move around, but they spend much of their time rooted to one place, swaying in the waters of their ocean home.