The Deep Sea - From the Vault

Hello and welcome to another episode of From The Vault, the podcast where we dive deep

into the Squizz Kids archives and dust off an old favourite for a relic and speaking

of diving deep, that's literally what I've just done to dig out this week's episode.

That seems we've had something of a water pipe leak in the archive basement here at Squizz

Kids HQ and I needed a snorkel and a pair of goggles to locate this week's episode.

But what an episode it is.

Have you ever stared out across the ocean and wondered what lurks beneath?

Not just beneath the surface mind you, because we all know what's there, sharks and fish

and whales and coral and seaweed, I mean in the deepest, darkest depths of the ocean.

Well you're about to join us on an adventure to the deep, where the weirdest creatures

on planet earth live, including the fish that live so far down that the pressure of all

the water above it is like having 1000 elephants standing on top of you.

I mean can you even imagine?

And this fish just swims around down there like it's no biggie.

Settle in, whack on your deep sea diving suit and let's get down kids way, way down in

this Squizz Kids shortcut to the deep sea.

Enjoy.

This is a Squizz Kids podcast.

Your fresh take on what's happening in the world around you.

Welcome to a place with three-legged fish, snow and animals that glow in the dark.

This is your Squizz Kids shortcut to the deep sea.

The podcast that we dive into the who, what, when, where, why and how of the big news stories.

I'm Amanda Bauer and I'm Bryce Cawett.

In this special shortcut we'll take you through how deep the deep sea really is, what lives

there and why?

Bio-luminousance is so important.

Listen carefully, there's a Squizz at the end.

How?

When I think of the ocean, my first thought is of the beach and when I go swimming in the

ocean, I'm in what's called the sunlight zone or more scientifically the epipalagic zone.

So that goes from the water's surface to 200 metres down.

What?

200 metres, that's two NRL fields from tri-line to tri-line.

Imagine diving down that deep.

You have the sunlight zone already goes pretty deep.

It contains dolphins, a favourite, schools of fish, sharks and lots of plankton which makes

its own food from the sun.

So what would you see if you went down further than that?

Alright, so the next zone is called the Twilight Zone or the Mesopelagic Zone.

It covers the area that is between 200 metres and 1000 metres below the surface.

So this area receives only faint filtered sunlight, which means that no organisms that use

photosynthesis, remember that's where you make your own food from the sunlight, none

of them can survive.

Okay.

The animals that do live there often have large eyes so they can see better in the near

darkness.

So is that the deep sea?

We still haven't reached the deep sea.

What?

We've only gone down through about one quarter of the ocean's dens.

Wow.

The remaining three quarters are cold, permanently dark and sometimes called the midnight zone.

The deep sea is more than 1000 metres deep.

1000 metres?

I'm trying to imagine diving the length of 10 in our L fields.

Well, that would be very dangerous, actually, deadly.

And not just because you obviously couldn't hold your breath for that long, the pressure

of that much water on top of you would cause your body to just stop working properly.

Wow.

So special equipment is needed to explore the deepest parts of the ocean.

So tell me a minute, what have they found?

What?

Well, the first thing they found, Bryce, is that the deep sea has three different levels,

each with its own kinds of creatures living in it.

So the first goes from 1000 metres deep to 3000 metres and it's called the Bathy-Pelagic

Zone.

The water is about four degrees Celsius and many of the creatures that live there eat snow.

Eat snow?

Well, technically it's called a marine snow.

It's little flakes of dead and decomposing animals, silt, poo, and other organic items that

have washed into the sea from land.

Those flakes really do look quite a bit like snow falling through the water.

Wow.

So tell me what eats marine snow?

Well, animals that don't need a lot of food because those flakes are pretty small and

that process food slowly.

Those creatures usually have squishy bodies and slimy skin.

Yes!

I'll put a link in your episode notes to two videos.

The first is of the black hagfish which has a skull but no spine.

What?

It has holes along the side of its body, some for breathing and some for slimy.

Ew.

When it eats, it's mouth truly makes it look like a creature from the Star Wars Cantina.

And then there's the amazing golper eel which has this ginormous, expandable gullet

that balloons out when it's feeling through.

Whoa.

Amazing.

So, what do we find if we go even deeper?

Well, between 4,000 and 6,000 meters deep, we're in the Abyssapelagic Zone.

The pressure here is 600 times greater than at sea level.

So, most of those creatures we saw on the way down in the sunlight and twilight zones

definitely couldn't survive here.

The incredible tripod fish is one of the ocean's deepest living fish species.

Tripod?

Hmm, I only know that word from a camera tripod, those three legs that hold a camera stable

at a particular height.

Yeah, and that is pretty much what a tripod fish does.

It's only about 30 centimeters long, so the length of a ruler.

But it has three long, bony fins that extend out for a meter.

Oh, wow.

Researchers think that they fill with water when the tripod fish wants to stand on the

deep ocean floor.

And why on earth would they want to stand on the deep ocean floor?

Well, the food at the tripod fish eat is carried by a current.

And if you're right on the ocean floor, there's not a lot of current.

So, those tripod fins hold its body at a level where the current literally brings the

food to them.

They can just open their mouths and eat.

How convenient.

That is right.

The final level is the deepest of the deep.

From 6,000 meters below sea level all the way down to the deepest part of the ocean,

which is the Mariana Trench at 10,994 meters.

It's just 6 meters away from 11 kilometers from the top of the ocean down.

Unbelievable.

So not much is known about what lives down there, but in 2018 scientists officially declared

a new species of fish the deepest ever found.

Right.

It's a type of snail fish and get this price.

It's about 30 centimeters long again like a ruler, but it can handle water pressure.

It is the equivalent of 1,600 elephants standing on its head.

Wow, that is incredible.

Bryce, there are so many more incredible things about the deep sea like super salty lakes

that are at the bottom of the ocean.

Wow.

Hydro thermal vents with scalding water spews out of cracks in the earth's crust.

Oh, wow.

I see reefs, animals that produce their own light in the pitch black water.

Unbelievable.

Amanda, I wish this podcast could go for an hour so we could talk about all of those things,

but I'm especially intrigued by bioluminescent animals.

Now bioluminescent of course means that they produce their own light.

Now why is that so important in the deep sea?

Why?

It is a pretty cool ability isn't it being able to make yourself glow in the dark?

For sure.

Video footage from the deep sea actually looks a bit like a starry sky.

There are so many animals lighting themselves up and then turning themselves off.

Wow.

Now many have evolved to have this ability to help them catch food.

My favorite is probably the deep sea angler fish because it has this glowing lure that

truly looks like a fishing rod and bombs back and forth on the top of its head to attract

prey.

So once they see that and come to take a bite, it opens its enormous jaws and chomp.

Oh.

And I'm getting another reason to glow in the dark is to attract a boyfriend or girlfriend.

The same way that land animals do flashy things like a peacock spreading its colorful feathers.

That's exactly right.

Some also do it to scare other creatures off.

So a sudden burst of light might scare or distract a predator and ask so that you can swim

away and avoid becoming its dinner.

Yeah.

Put a link in your episode notes to a video from none other than Sir David Attenborough

that shows some examples of the different bioluminescent creatures in the deep sea.

Now some of them have never been caught, studied or identified.

That is amazing.

The deep sea, it's a mysterious place.

This is the part of the podcast where you get to test how well you've been listening.

Question number one.

Many deep sea creatures eat flakes of food called what?

Yeah, that's right.

Good listening is.

It's marine snow.

Question number two.

What's the name of the fish that has three long fins to help it stand?

Yep, it's the tripod fish.

Question number three.

What's one reason that bioluminescence is important to deep sea creatures?

That's right, they use it to get food, to find a mate or to protect themselves.

That's all we have time for today.

Thanks for joining us as we explored the who, what, how, where, when and why of the deep sea.

Now get out there and have a most excellent day.

Over and out.