Saturday, March 16, 2019

Four More Things I Learned About the Deep Sea

Good evening!

Today almost got me, but I'm still here! We are visiting my in-laws this weekend for my mother-in-law's birthday, but I woke up sick as a dog. I spent a large portion of the day lying on the couch watching Blue Planet while my husband played board games with his mom and my sixteen year old sister-in-law. If you've been reading my other posts, you know that I'm working on a story about mermaids. I am obsessed with creating a story with some level of plausibility. To that end, here are four interesting things I learned about the ocean today:

1. Tuna have special blood vessels that allow them to maintain a body temperature that is warmer than the surrounding water. This allows them to spend time in warm tropical waters as well as the much colder open ocean. (The implication for mermaids being that if they had blood vessels like this, they could keep themselves warm in deep waters.)

2. Many of the creatures living at the very bottom of the sea on the abyssal plain move about using beautiful undulating fins that look like the flowing skirts of an old-timey ball gown. They look nothing like what you might normally expect of a fish or a sea cucumber. This helps them trap food in the many folds of their bodies.

3. Most coral rely on energy from the sun, but there are deep sea corals over a mile beneath the surface as well.

4. The bottom of the ocean is home to the largest mountain range in the world, riddled with hydrothermal vents that also support large amounts of biodiversity. Though the surrounding waters can be as low as four degrees below zero Celsius, the hydrothermal vents spout water that can be as hot as 464 degrees. (I realize zero is the freezing temperature, but that's what Blue Planet told me! It must have something to do with the dynamic nature of the water or the salt content.)

Bonus: We have only explored one percent of the abyssal plain. There is so much we don't yet know about the bottom of the sea!

Double bonus: If you haven't figured it out yet, my childhood dream was to be a marine biologist. I was also terrified of fish, though. Some dreams just aren't meant to be!

5 comments:

  1. This is great. I learned something new about the sea (and sea life). Considering you were sick, you got a ton accomplished. A story about mermaids sounds so fun. I love the Emily Windsnap series. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. I love the mix of fact and fantasy your tale (tail?) will have. It is enlightening to see this side of the the creative process.

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  3. This is the first time I have read your posts. What a nice combination of narrative and informational writing! Those are very four interesting marine facts indeed!

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  4. I'm fascinated by the natural world (and mermaids, quite frankly!) Have you checked out Jess Keating's writing? She's a zoologist and children's book writer and does an amazing job!

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    1. I haven't read her books yet, but I follow her on Twitter! Everything she posts is so great.

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