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Life in the abyss, a spectacular and fragile struggle for survival
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This undated handout picture released on February 21, 2018 by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and taken by Asher Flatt of the Marine National Facility in Hobart shows a lizard fish, an ambush predator from the deep ocean. More than 100 rarely seen fish species were hauled up from a deep and cold abyss off Australia during a scientific voyage, researchers said on February 21, including a cousin of the 'world's ugliest animal' Mr Blobby. (CSIRO/AFP/Asher Flatt)
C
loaked in darkness and mystery, the creatures of the deep oceans exist in a world of unlikely profusion, surviving on scant food and under pressure that would crush human lungs.
This extremely hostile environment, which will come under the spotlight at a major United Nations oceans summit in Lisbon this week, has caused its inhabitants to develop a prodigious array of alien characteristics and idiosyncratic survival techniques.
A vast assortment of animals populate the sunless depths, from the colossal squid, which wrapped its tentacles around the imaginations of sailors and storytellers, to beings with huge cloudy eyes, or whose bodies are as transparent as glass.
And the angler fish, with its devilish looks illuminated by a built-in headlamp, showing that the deep dark is alive with lights.
'Incredible' creatures
Until the middle of the 19th century, scientists believed that life was impossible beyond a few hundred meters.
"They imagined that there was nothing, because of the absence of light, the pressure, the cold, and the lack of food," Nadine Le Bris, a professor at Sorbonne University, told AFP.
