Deepest Living Creatures On Our Ocean: The Mariana Trench Animals

selim12 December 8, 2023 0 Comments

Here, You will find the most unique Mariana Trench Animals living in the deepest point on earth: The Mariana Trench, but first, let’s know what is the Mariana Trench!

Table of Contents

The Mariana Trench:

The Marianan Trench is an ocean trench found in the western Pacific Ocean of the Mariana Island. It’s the deepest trench on Earth.it’s crescent shaped measuring about 2,550 km in length and 69 km in width. It goes deep as far as 10,984 km(the challenger deep). Here The pressure is unimaginable about 1,086 bar. more than 1,071 times the standard atmospheric pressure at sea level. Not All creatures can survive these extreme conditions, Yet Life Exists!

How Is The Life In The Mariana Trench Animals:

To get an idea, the pressure in the bottom is 1000 times greater than the surface. The blobfish, a deep sea living creature gets blown up when dragged from its deep remote home to the surface. That proves there is still life in there. Despite that and the freezing water temperature, humans are still able to access this remote trench.

Mariana Trench Animals Adaptations:

To survive these extreme conditions where atmospheric pressure can reach 16,000 PSI(per square inch), creatures most develop specific creatures:

Adaptations to Extreme Pressure: most species here have no bones, instead the body is filled with cartillage that can support high pressures. Some other species have even gelatinous bodies. They possess membranes with unsaturated fats that remain liquid under such conditions, keeping the membrane loose.

Adaptations to Lack of Sunlight: Almost all creatures here have large eyes to capture as much light as possible. Others have bioluminescence to lure prey and hunt.

Feeding Strategies: The feeding habit must also change due to the lack of organisms and prey here, so like hagfish, it relies on another source of food like carcasses, bone worms consume bones

How This Mariana Trench Formed?

The Sea of the Pacific is 180 million years old. The crust contains plates that fall on each other due to the earth’s activity. This process called subduction results in the formation of trenches, earthquakes, and tsunamis. This happened 50 million years ago for the Mariana Trench, a break from the Philippine plate to be exact.Scientists though believe that the Mariana plate will dissipate.

Mariana Trench Animals #1: The Anglerfish:

the anglerfish from the Lophiiformes, have a modified lure(modified luminescent fin ray) that helps them produce light to attract and make prey curious, and then with lightning speed comes their attack. Also this deepsea fish is the perfect sexual dimorphism known in the ocean as the female is much larger than the male and the male will look like a tiny particle attached to it in the breeding season(he will get food for the female in exchange for sperm).

Mariana Trench Animals #1: The Dumbo Octopus:

the dumbo octopus (Grimpoteuthis) is the deepest living octopus in the world. It moves slowly in the deep sea waters conserving energy flapping its fins and using arms to steer. The depth range starts from 1000 meters to up to 7000 meters; they also use their arms to crawl among the seafloor. females carry multiple eggs in various stages of maturation and only lay one or two eggs at a time with no offspring time. This Creature really adapted the life in depth.

Mariana Trench Animals #2: The Barreleye:

known also as spook fish; this fish is only found in darkness; they have a transparent head with big eyes enabling them to see in pitch black darkness. His eyes are green and placed wide on the head. This helps to detect nearby prey. The large flat fins allow them to remain nearly motionless in the water, and to maneuver very precisely(Energy Consumption).

Mariana Trench Creatures #3: The Frilled Shark:

The frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus), is a living fossil, this shark has no force or strong build as the surface shark; it has a long body, a softer shape, and bones with all fins in the tail. When moving around for prey, it moves like an eel and swallows the prey with its 300 needle-like teeth. Found from depths starting from 50 meters to up to 1570 meters.

Mariana Trench Animals #4: The Snailfish:

The snailfishes or sea snails are a family of marine ray-finned fishes. These are the deepest living fishes in the world, it has no bones. Widely distributed from the Arctic to the Antarctic Oceans, it has more than 410 described species. This fish is spotted at the ocean floor to up to 8000 meters and more feeding plankton, small and large copepods, and amphipods. They lay multiple batches of large eggs multiple times throughout their lifetime.

Mariana Trench #5: the deep-sea crustacean Hirondellea gigas:

Gammaridea is a small shrimp-like crustacean. It has more than 7,900 species. This animal calls the ocean floor its home. They feed on tiny particles dropping from the surface and even sunken wood from the ships. You won’t encounter these creatures by yourself, you will only seem in total darkness.

Trench Animal #6: Zombie Worms

Scientifically known as the Osedax called “bone-eater”, these worms are found in the deep sea in the deep feeding on whale carcasses to reach enclosed lipids, on which they rely for sustenance. They have special root tissues for bone-boring. They also feed on collagen found in whales for protection.

Mariana Trench Animals 7: The Dragonfish:

The dragonfish from the family Stomiidae, are small fish around 15 to 26 cm. They have enormous jaws with fang-like teeth. Blue light bioluminescence and light body, this fish is adapted to its deep remote environment with a midnight zone where no light penetrates and every little prey matters; this fish doesn’t hesitate to consume small fish, zooplankton and other small marine creatures(shrimps, etc..).

Fangtooth:

Fangtooths are from the family of Anoplogastridae living in the deep sea. They are named for their long fang teeth. It can reach 16 cm in total length. It’s found in-depth starting from 200 m to 2000 meters in the dark zone. They can go on diel migrations. They are robust fish. The fang-teeth are so huge that the fish can’t close its mouth entirely. It feeds on larger fish.

Do any animals live in the Mariana Trench?

Yes, many different animals live in the Mariana Trench, including xenophyophores, amphipods, and small sea cucumbers. These animals have adapted to the extreme conditions of the trench, such as high pressure, cold water, and complete darkness.

Are there unknown creatures in the Mariana Trench?

Yes, there are still undescribed species in the Mariana Trench. For example, there are more than 410 species of snailfish known to science, but some of them are uncommonly studied, and little is known about their lives or habits.

Do sharks live in the Mariana Trench?

yes, for example, the goblin shark.

The Mariana Trench is a dark, remote, and largely unexplored area. Its terrain features steep, rocky walls and a sediment-covered floor. With complete darkness and freezing temperatures, life is almost impossible and some creatures adapted, and who knows what else lurks in the abyss?