By doing so, we can ensure that the deep sea remains a source of inspiration and discovery for generations to come. That has since become a commonly used method for investigating life and processes in the bottom-most ocean. For this purpose, the AWI relies on PAUL and his “little sister” SARI – two autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) that can be programmed for entire missions. They are deployed from a research vessel, scan a predetermined route independently, taking readings at regular intervals, and then surface again at fixed coordinates for retrieval. Depending on the specific research goals, the AUVs can operate at various depths and be fitted with a broad range of instruments. PAUL can dive down to 3,000 metres, while the smaller SARI has to draw the line at 200 metres.
The Deep Sea
This is possible thanks to biochemical reactions in which compounds known as luciferins react with oxygen and the enzyme luciferase. In this way, many jellyfish, but also some species of fish, squid, and other deep-sea fauna can emit a blue, green, or in some cases even red light. This is done e.g. to attract potential mates, lure in prey, or to illuminate their surroundings with organic “searchlights”. They primarily feed on carrion-eating amphipods, which can be found in abundance near their food sources. Experiments have revealed how quickly and efficiently bits of food that sink to the seafloor are put to use.
Just as canyons funnel water, seamounts also influence the flow of water, often diverting deep currents. They are often found at the edges of tectonic plates where magma is able to rise through the surface crust. When dense, nutrient rich ocean currents hit the seamount they deflect up toward the surface, allowing marine life to thrive on the newly supplied food.
Exploring the Hidden Forests of the Deep – A Q&A with Eugenia Thomas
(T)he boundaries of the human are no longer central to the reflection on abyssal architecture. … The design of a cohabitation reef becomes the technical, and even ontological, challenge of architectural work. The sea is known for its recreational diving sites, such as Ras Mohammed, SS Thistlegorm (shipwreck), Elphinstone Reef, The Brothers, Daedalus Reef, St. John’s Reef, Rocky Island in Egypt64 and less known sites in Sudan such as Sanganeb, Abington, Angarosh and Shaab Rumi.
Animals of the Deep
By the time the ocean returned to that region, sediment had covered the salt, isolating it from the seawater. These worms house bacteria within their “roots” that take advantage of the sulfur in the bones to make energy in a process called chemosynthesis. Up to 190 different types of these bacteria have been found on a single whale carcass, and up to 20 percent of those are also found living around hydrothermal vents. They say we know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean, which is what made it so incredibly exciting when scientists decided to do what the rest of us are too chicken to, dive down to the seabed to get a look at what’s lurking there.
In the late 4th century BC, Alexander the Great sent Greek naval expeditions down the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. This work represents one of the most detailed in-situ surveys of biodiversity and habitats in the hadal zone to date. Mary is a staff writer for the HIR interested especially in the intersection between global politics, energy, and climate change.
By valuing and safeguarding the deep ocean, we ensure a healthier planet and the preservation of life’s strangest, most fascinating forms for generations to come. Hydrothermal vents, for example, host ecosystems that thrive without sunlight, challenging our understanding of where and how life can exist. Studying these environments can reveal insights into resilience and adaptation, possibly helping us tackle challenges in medicine, technology, and sustainability. The deep sea, a vast and largely unexplored realm 200m beneath the ocean’s surface, is one of Earth’s most mysterious and awe-inspiring places. The deep sea is not just a scientific frontier; it is a reminder of the vastness and complexity of our planet.
- One area of particular interest is the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean.
- The same day, People’s Daily revealed that China now holds more than half of all effective global patents in marine equipment manufacturing, surpassing South Korea, the United States and Japan.
- A realm governed by the vast timescales of geological and ecological processes—what Richard Irvine (2014) calls ‘deep time’—the deep sea has become a major geopolitical issue (Hannigan 2016), caught in a clash of competing temporalities.
- This perspective challenges visions of the ‘cyborgs of the deep’ as the only ‘heroes’ that will allow society to meet the requests of the ‘Green Shift’, i.e. of transitioning towards more environmentally friendly ways of living (Palermo and Steinberg 2024, 9).
- The materials collected would then be piped up to a surface vessel for processing.
The latest round of talks ended in July 2025, and negotiations will resume in 2026. Anthropological reflections on how the remote, seemingly human-less deep sea is rendered knowable—via visualisation, digitisation, and data extraction—have turned attention toward the embodied experiences of scientists themselves, particularly as they operate marine robotics. Oceanographers’ reliance on sensors and robotic technologies—deeply entangled with the sea’s material and affective dimensions—produces novel sensory relationships between humans and nonhumans (Helmreich 2009; Lehman 2020). In a similar vein, the anthropology of outer space has highlighted the embodied engagements of scientists with their technological surrogates, such that they ‘become rovers’ by learning to ‘see like a rover’ Deep Sea (Vertesi 2015). Sediment plumes have emerged as a significant conceptual and analytical lens through which the deep sea is examined in the social sciences. They are characterised as ‘spectral’ phenomena, existing at the threshold between the perceptible and imperceptible, the visible and invisible (Han 2024).
High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy
- A 60,000 km underwater mountain range stretches around our planet, formed as the plates that make up the Earth’s crust move against, or apart from, each other.
- While coral reefs in shallow water are well studied and loved by people, very little is known about their deep sea relatives.
- To its north lies the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez, which leads into to the Suez Canal.
- Further investigation into these unique habitats showed that many of the other creatures that live by the vents also rely on symbiotic bacteria.
- Deep-sea mining, the extraction of minerals from the ocean floor, has gained attention in recent years due to the increasing demand for metals such as copper, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements.
- This risk may dissuade mining companies from pursuing mining in international waters in the near term.
- The seafloor is home to e.g. sponges, sea lilies, serpent and feather stars, sea urchins, starfish and sea cucumbers; the ecosystem’s mobile species include fish and squid.
The materials collected would then be piped up to a surface vessel for processing. Any waste, such as sediments and other organic materials, would be pumped back into the water column. It is estimated that millions of species inhabit the deep ocean, many of which have yet to be discovered and described by science.
Another frequently used definition considers all waters beyond the reach of light from the surface to be part of the deep sea. Understanding the deep sea as a highly sensory place that allows for porous human–non-human encounters helps us acknowledge the agency of the beings that inhabit it. In contrast to portrayals of the deep sea as an empty, lifeless void, ethnographic writing reveals it to be a vibrant, non-human-rich ecosystem—one that may even be haunted by ‘ghosts’ (Palermo 2022). Scientists first learned of these symbiotic relationships through the study of the Riftia tubeworm. Upon first discovering hydrothermal communities in 1977, scientists were perplexed by the diversity and abundance of life. The worm’s blood red plumes filter the water and absorb both oxygen and hydrogen sulfide from the vents.
List of fauna species found in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba
Most people onshore remain unaware of ‘those dark, remote, and unexciting practices that take place in locations so vastly removed from the ocean’ (Braverman 2024, 4). Flashy displays may seem easy to spot, but in the dark expanse of the deep, distance and the immense area can make even bright lights hard to see. Deep sea animals will often have enlarged eyes that can pick up even the faintest light, ensuring a rare encounter leads to a meal or a mating. The Phronima, an invertebrate resembling Ridley Scott’s Alien, uses two sets of eyes, one large set in front and one on the sides. Research that included Smithsonian scientists found that the large eyes allow it to see at longer distances and the smaller eyes provide low resolution vision of nearly the entire area surrounding them, enabling them to catch anything close by. Their carcass, pickled and preserved, serves as a warning of the toxic landscape below.