The arrangement of things in the deep ocean by nature has an almost cruel quality. The most amazing animals, the ones that pulse with bioluminescent color, trail silk-like fins, and appear to be lit from within, are frequently the ones that have the highest chance of killing you. The design is so sophisticated that it seems deliberate.
Consider the octopus with blue rings. It wears its electric blue rings like jewelry and is small enough to fit in your palm. However, those rings are not ornamental. They only show up as a final warning before the creature administers a dose of tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin that is thought to be about 1,000 times more potent than cyanide, when it feels cornered. Antivenom does not exist. In as little as twenty minutes, death may arrive. Nevertheless, images of this animal frequently become viral due to its exquisite beauty.
A similar tale is told by the lionfish. Its twelve spines, which can deliver a potent venom that causes excruciating pain, nausea, and in certain cases, temporary paralysis, are housed within its lovely, gently fluttering fins, the kind a costume designer might imagine for a stage production. It appears more like a dancer in the middle of a performance than a predator on the hunt as it moves through coral reefs with an almost theatrical poise. This calmness contributes to its effectiveness. It doesn’t move quickly. It is not required to.
Things become stranger and, in a way, more beautiful as you go deeper down, where sunlight has no place. Every spring, Watasenia scintillans, the Japanese firefly squid, migrates inshore along Japan’s coastline, transforming shallow water into what observers have called a living light show. About 800 photophores, which are tiny organs that emit light, are carried by each squid. These organs flash in patterns during courtship, camouflage, and prey attraction. In marine biology, it’s one of the most spectacular displays. However, there is a bittersweet detail: the display takes place just before the squid perishes, making it their most spectacular last act.
Perhaps the most striking illustration of this paradox between beauty and lethality is the Australian box jellyfish. With tentacles up to ten feet long and bells about the size of a human head, it is nearly invisible and moves through the water with a calm, almost contemplative grace. It is also regarded as one of the ocean’s most hazardous creatures for people. Its tentacles can cause cardiac arrest in a matter of minutes and cause immediate, excruciating pain. The same thing is frequently said by marine scientists who study these creatures: you should be most concerned about the ones you can hardly see.
The amount of this world that is still unknown is both amazing and a little unsettling. The vast majority of the Earth’s surface is covered by the deep ocean, and scientists believe that many deep-sea species remain unidentified. There are probably thousands of species below that are still waiting, as evidenced by the creatures that are currently being found, such as the fangtooth fish, which has the largest teeth of any ocean animal, and the barreleye fish, which has a transparent skull and rotating eyes. It’s highly likely that some of them will be magnificent. There will be some of them that pose a threat. Most likely, many will be both.
It’s difficult to ignore how frequently even the scientists conducting ocean exploration are taken aback. Every plunge into the abyss seems to bring back footage of an unidentified creature that pulses with gentle light in the dark, tentacles outstretched, and moves with that peculiar, leisurely confidence that creatures in the deep seem to share. Watching that video gives me the impression that the ocean isn’t concealing these creatures. Simply put, we haven’t been paying enough attention.
That is probably going to change. The list of poisonous, exquisite, and incredibly bizarre marine life will expand as technology makes deep-sea exploration more accessible. For now, the abyss has been happy to keep its secrets to itself. Most likely, it won’t have much more time.
