Many people know that the highest point is (8848 m). If you are asked where is the deepest point of the ocean, what will you answer? Mariana Trench- this is the place we want to tell you about.
But first I want to note that they never cease to amaze us with their riddles. The described place is also still not properly studied for quite objective reasons.
So, we offer you or, as it is also called, the Mariana Trench. Below are valuable photographs of the mysterious inhabitants of this abyss.
It is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. This is the deepest place in the world, of all known today.
Having a V-shape, the depression runs along the Mariana Islands for 1500 km.
Mariana Trench on the map
An interesting fact is that the Mariana Trench is located at the junction: the Pacific and the Philippine.
The pressure at the bottom of the trough reaches 108.6 MPa, which is almost 1072 higher than the normal pressure.
Probably, now you understand that because of such conditions, it is extremely difficult to explore the mysterious bottom of the world, as this place is also called. Nevertheless, the scientific community, starting from the end of the 19th century, has not ceased to study this mystery of nature step by step.
Exploration of the Mariana Trench
In 1875, an attempt was made for the first time to globally explore the Mariana Trench. The English expedition "Challenger" carried out measurements and analysis of the trough. It was this group of scientists who set the initial mark at 8184 meters.
Of course, this was not the full depth, since the capabilities of that time were much more modest than today's measuring systems.
Soviet scientists also made a huge contribution to research. An expedition led by the Vityaz research vessel in 1957 began its own studies and found that there is life at a depth of more than 7,000 meters.
Until that time, there was a strong belief that at such a depth life is simply impossible.
We invite you to see a curious image of the Mariana Trench on a scale:
Diving to the bottom of the Mariana Trench
1960 was one of the most fruitful years in terms of the study of the Mariana Trench. The Trieste research bathyscaphe made a record dive to a depth of 10,915 meters.
This is where something mysterious and inexplicable began. Special devices that record underwater sound began to transmit terrible noises to the surface, reminiscent of the grinding of a saw on metal.
The monitors registered mystical shadows, which in shape resembled fairy-tale dragons with several heads. For an hour, scientists tried to capture as much data as possible, but then the situation began to get out of control.
It was decided to immediately raise the bathyscaphe to the surface, since there were reasonable fears that if you wait a little longer, the bathyscaphe will forever remain in the mysterious abyss of the Mariana Trench.
For more than 8 hours, specialists have been extracting unique equipment made of heavy-duty materials from the bottom.
Of course, all the instruments, and the bathyscaphe itself, were carefully placed on a special platform for studying the surface.
What was the surprise of scientists when it turned out that almost all elements of the unique apparatus, made from the most durable at that time, were severely deformed and mangled.
The cable, 20 cm in diameter, lowering the bathyscaphe to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, was half sawn. Who and why tried to cut it remains a mystery to this day.
An interesting fact is that only in 1996 the American newspaper The New York Times published the details of this unique study.
lizard from the Mariana Trench
The German expedition "Highfish" also encountered the inexplicable mysteries of the Mariana Trench. While plunging the research apparatus to the bottom, scientists encountered unexpected difficulties.
Being at a depth of 7 kilometers under water, they decided to raise the equipment.
But the technology refused to obey. Then special infrared cameras were turned on to find out the cause of the failures. However, what they saw on the monitors plunged them into indescribable horror.
On the screen, a fantastic lizard of gigantic proportions was clearly visible, which was trying to gnaw through the bathyscaphe, like a squirrel nut.
Being in a state of shock, the hydronauts activated the so-called electric gun. Having received a powerful discharge of current, the lizard disappeared into the abyss.
What it was, the fantasy of scientists obsessed with research work, mass hypnosis, the delirium of people tired of colossal stress, or just someone's joke, is still unknown.
The deepest place in the Mariana Trench
On December 7, 2011, researchers at the University of New Hampshire submerged a unique robot to the bottom of a research trough.
Thanks to modern equipment, it was possible to register a depth of 10,994 m (+/- 40 m). This place was named after the first expedition (1875), which we wrote about above: “ Challenger Abyss».
Inhabitants of the Mariana Trench
Of course, after these inexplicable and even mystical secrets, logical questions began to arise: what monsters live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench? After all, for a long time it was believed that below 6000 meters the existence of living beings is in principle impossible.
However, later studies of the Pacific Ocean in general, and the Mariana Trench in particular, confirmed the fact that at a much greater depth, in impenetrable darkness, under monstrous pressure and water temperature close to 0 degrees, a huge number of unprecedented creatures live.
Undoubtedly, without modern technology, made of the most durable materials and equipped with cameras that are unique in their properties, such a study would be simply impossible.
Half-meter mutant octopus 
One and a half meter monster 
As a summary, we can confidently say that at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, between 6000 and 11000 meters under water, the following were reliably found: worms (up to 1.5 meters in size), crayfish, a variety of amphipods, gastropods, mutants, mysterious, not identified soft-bodied creatures of two meters in size, etc.
These inhabitants feed mainly on bacteria and the so-called "corpse rain", that is, dead organisms that slowly sink to the bottom.
Hardly anyone doubts that the Mariana Trench stores many more. However, people do not leave attempts to explore this unique place on the planet.
Thus, the only people who dared to dive to the "bottom of the earth" were the American marine specialist Don Walsh and the Swiss scientist Jacques Picard. On the same Trieste bathyscaphe, they reached the bottom on January 23, 1960, sinking to a depth of 10,915 meters.
However, on March 26, 2012, James Cameron, an American director, made a solo dive to the bottom of the deepest point in the oceans. Bathyscaphe collected all the necessary samples and made a valuable photo and video shooting. Thus, we now know that only three people have been in the Challenger Abyss.
Did they manage to answer at least half of the questions? Of course not, since the Mariana Trench still hides much more mysterious and inexplicable things.
By the way, James Cameron stated that after diving to the bottom, he felt completely cut off from the world of people. Moreover, he assured that there are simply no monsters at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
But here we can recall a primitive Soviet statement, after a flight into space: "Gagarin flew into space - he did not see God." This led to the conclusion that there is no God.
Similarly, here, we cannot unequivocally say that the giant lizard and other creatures that scientists saw in the course of previous studies were the result of someone's sick fantasy.
It is important to understand that the geographic object under study has a length of more than 1000 kilometers. Therefore, potential monsters, the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench, could well be located many hundreds of kilometers from the place of study.
However, these are just hypotheses.
Panorama of the Mariana Trench on Yandex Map
Another interesting fact may intrigue you. On April 1, 2012, Yandex published a comic panorama of the Mariana Trench. On it you can see a sunken ship, water plumes and even the glowing eyes of a mysterious underwater monster.
Despite the humorous idea, this panorama is tied to a real place and is still available to users.
To view it, copy this code into the address bar of your browser:
https://yandex.ua/maps/-/CZX6401a
The abyss knows how to keep its secrets, and our civilization has not yet reached such a development as to “crack” natural mysteries. However, who knows, maybe one of the readers of this article in the future will become the very genius who will be able to solve this problem?
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The Mariana Trench is one of the most famous places on the planet. But this does not prevent him from being the keeper of secrets and mysteries. What is at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and which of the living creatures is able to withstand these incredible conditions?
The unique depth of the planet
The bottom of the Earth, the abyss of the Challenger, the deepest place on the planet ... What titles were given to the little-studied Mariana Trench. It is a V-shaped bowl with a diameter of about 5 km with steep slopes located at an angle of only 7-9 ° and a flat bottom. According to measurements in 2011, the depth of the trench is 10,994 km below sea level. It is hard to imagine, but Everest, the highest mountain on the planet, can easily fit in its depths.
The deep sea trench is located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. The unique geographical point got its name in honor of the Mariana Islands located in the immediate vicinity. Along them, it stretched for 1.5 km.
This amazing place on the planet was formed as a result of a tectonic fault, where the Pacific plate partially overlaps the Philippine one.
Secrets and mysteries of the "Womb of Gaia"
There are many secrets and legends around the little-studied Mariana Trench. What is hidden in the depths of the gutter?
Japanese scientists who have been studying goblin sharks for a long time claim that they saw a gigantic creature while feeding predators. It was a 25-meter shark that came to feed on goblin sharks. It is assumed that they had the good fortune to see a direct descendant of the megalodon shark, which, according to the official version, died out 2 million years ago. In support of the fact that these monsters could well have survived in the depths of the gutter, scientists have provided giant teeth found at the bottom.
The world knows many stories about how corpses of unknown giant monsters were found thrown out by the waters on the shores of nearby islands.
An interesting case is described by the participants in the descent of the German bathyscaphe "Highfish". At a depth of 7 km there was a sudden stop of the self-propelled vehicle. To find out the reason for the stop, the researchers turned on the searchlights and were horrified by what they saw. In front of them was a prehistoric deep-sea lizard that was trying to chew through an underwater vessel. The monster was scared away only by a tangible electrical impulse from the outer skin of the self-propelled vehicle.
Another inexplicable incident occurred during the sinking of an American deep-sea vessel. At the moment of lowering the apparatus on titanium cables, the researchers heard the rattle of metal. To find out the reason, they removed the apparatus back to the surface. As it turned out, the ship's beams were bent, and the titanium cables were practically sawn through. Which of the inhabitants of the Mariana Trench tried their teeth remained a mystery.
Amazing Gutter Dwellers
The pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench reaches 108.6 MPa. This parameter is more than 1100 times higher than normal atmospheric pressure. It is not surprising that for a long time people believed that there was no life at the bottom of the trough in the icy cold and unbearable pressure.
But in spite of everything, at a depth of 11 kilometers, there are deep-sea monsters that have managed to adapt to these terrible conditions. So who are these representatives of the animal world, who have successfully mastered the deepest place on the planet and feel comfortable within the walls of the Mariana Trench?
sea slug
These amazing creatures, living at a depth of 7-8 km, in appearance are more reminiscent of not the “surface” fish we are used to, but rather tadpoles.
The body of these amazing fish is a jelly-like substance, the density parameter of which is slightly higher than water. This feature of the device allows sea slugs to swim with minimal energy costs.
The body of these deep-sea inhabitants is predominantly dark in color from pink-brown to black. Although there are also colorless species, through the transparent skin of which muscles are visible.
The size of an adult sea slug is only 25-30 cm. The head is pronounced and strongly flattened. A well-developed tail is more than half the length of the body. A powerful tail and well-developed fins are used by the fish for locomotion.
Jellyfish traditionally live in the upper water layers. But bentocodon feels comfortable at a depth of about 750 meters. Outwardly, the amazing inhabitant of the Mariana Trench resembles a red flying saucer D 2-3 cm.
Bentocodon feeds on unicellular and crustaceans, which exhibit bioluminescent properties in the depths of the sea. According to marine biologists, the red coloring was donated by nature to these jellyfish for the purpose of camouflage. If they had a transparent color, as their high waters gather, then when swallowing the crustaceans glowing in the dark, they would immediately become noticeable to larger predators.
macropina barrel-eye
Among the amazing inhabitants of the Mariana Trench, an unusual fish called the small-mouthed macropina arouses genuine interest in itself. She is awarded by nature with a transparent head. The eyes of the fish, located deep inside the transparent dome, can rotate in different directions. This allows the side eye to search in all directions without moving, even in dim and diffused light conditions. False eyes located at the front of the head are actually organs of smell.
The laterally compressed body of the fish is shaped like a torpedo. Thanks to this structure, it is able to "hang" in one place for several hours. To give the body acceleration, the macropin simply presses the fins to the body and begins to actively work with the tail.
A cute animal that lives at a depth of 7 thousand meters, is the deepest octopus known to science. Due to the wide bell-shaped head and sweeping elephant "ears", it is often called the Dumbo octopus.
The deep-sea creature has a soft semi-gelatinous body and two fins located on the mantle, interconnected by wide membranes. The octopus carries out soaring movements above the bottom surface due to the work of the siphon funnel.
Soaring along the seabed, he looks out for prey - bivalve molluscs, worm-like animals and crustaceans. Unlike most cephalopods, Dumbo does not peck at its prey with its beak-like jaws, but swallows it whole.
Small fish with bulging telescopic eyes and huge open mouths live at a depth of 200-600 meters. They got their name for the characteristic shape of the body, resembling a cutting tool equipped with a short handle.
Hatchet fish living in the depths of the Mariana Trench have photophores. Special luminous organs are located in the lower half of the body in small groups along the abdomen. By emitting diffused light, they create an anti-shadow effect. This makes hatchets less visible to bottom-dwelling predators.
Osedax Bone Eaters
Among those who live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench are polychaete worms. They reach a length of only 5-7 cm. As food, osedax use substances contained in the bones of dead marine life.
By secreting an acidic substance, they penetrate the skeleton, extracting from it all the microelements necessary for life. Tiny bone eaters breathe through fluffy processes on the body that can extract oxygen from the water.
Of no less interest is the way these creatures adapt. Males, whose size is ten times smaller than females, live on the body of their ladies. Inside the dense gelatinous cone framing the body, up to a hundred males can simultaneously coexist. They leave their shelter only at the moments when the female prey finds a new source of food.
active bacteria
During the last expedition, Danish scientists found colonies of active bacteria at the bottom of the trench, which are of great importance in maintaining the carbon cycle of the ocean.
It is noteworthy that at a depth of 11 km, bacteria are 2 times more active than their counterparts, but living at a depth of 6 km. Scientists explain this by the need to process the colossal volumes of organic material that fall here, sinking from shallower depths, and as a result of earthquakes.
underwater monsters
The vast thickness of the ocean in the Mariana Trench is filled with not only cute and harmless creatures. The deep monsters leave the most indelible impression.
Unlike the above-mentioned inhabitants of the Mariana Trench, the needlefish has a very formidable appearance. Its long body is covered with slippery scaleless skin, and its terrible muzzle is "decorated" with huge teeth. The monster lives at a depth of 1800 m.
Since the sun's rays practically do not penetrate into the depths of the gutter, many of its inhabitants have the ability to glow in the dark. Iglorot is no exception.
On the body of the fish there are photophores - glow glands. Their deep-sea dweller uses them for three purposes at once: to protect against large predators, communicate with their own kind, and bait small fish. During hunting, the needleworm also uses a special mustache - a luminous thickening. A potential victim takes a luminous strip for a small fish and, as a result, she falls for the bait herself.
Fish are amazing not only in appearance, but also in their way of life. She got the nickname "angler" for a remarkable process on her head filled with bioluminescent bacteria. Attracted by the glow of the "fishing rod", a potential victim swims up to a close distance. The angler can only open his mouth to meet her.
These deep sea predators are very voracious. To accept prey that exceeds the size of the predator itself, the fish is able to stretch the walls of its stomach. For this reason, in the event of an anglerfish attacking a prey that is too large, both may die as a result.
The predator has a very unusual appearance: a long body with short fins, a frightening muzzle with a giant beak-like nose, huge jaws retracting forward and unexpectedly pink skin.
Biologists believe that a long outgrowth in the form of a beak is necessary for a predator to find food in pitch darkness. For such an unusual and even terrible appearance of a predator, the goblin shark is often called.
It is noteworthy that goblin sharks do not have a swim bladder. This is partially offset by an enlarged liver, which can weigh up to 25% relative to the body.
You can meet a predator only at a depth of at least 900 m. It is noteworthy that the older the individual, the deeper it will live. But even adults of goblin sharks cannot boast of impressive size: body length is on average 3-3.5 m, and weight is about 200 kg.
frilled shark
This dangerous creature that lives in the depths of the Mariana Trench is rightfully considered the king of the underwater world. The most ancient species of sharks has a serpentine body, covered with folded skin. The gill membranes intersecting in the throat area form a wide bag from the skin folds, outwardly resembling a wavy cloak 1.5-1.8 meters long.
The prehistoric monster has a primitive structure: the spine is not divided into vertebrae, all the fins are concentrated in one area, the caudal fin consists of only one mouth. The main pride of the cloaked man is his mouth, dotted with 3 hundred teeth arranged in several rows.
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The bottom of the oceans is uneven, it is cut through by gorges, the depth of which is tens of thousands of meters. The relief was formed millions of years ago due to the movement of tectonic plates - the "shell" of the earth's crust. Due to their continuous movement, the location and shape of the continents and the ocean floor changed. The deepest on the planet is the Pacific Ocean, which at this stage in the development of technology cannot be fully explored.
The Pacific Ocean is the largest on the planet. On its western latitudes lie the continents of Australia and Eurasia, on the south - Antarctica, on the east - South and North America. The length of the Pacific Ocean from south to north is almost 16 thousand kilometers, and from west to east - 19 thousand. The area of the ocean, together with its seas, is 178.684 million kilometers, and the average depth is about 4 kilometers. But there are amazing places in the Pacific Ocean that make it the deepest in the world.
Mariana Trench - the deepest place in the ocean
This deepest crevice got its name in honor of the nearby Mariana Islands. The depth of the Pacific Ocean in this place is 10 kilometers 994 meters. The deepest point of the trough is called "Challenger Abyss". Geographically, the "Abyss" is located 340 km from the southwestern tip of the island of Guam.
If we take Mount Everest for comparison, which, as you know, rises above sea level by 8848 m, it can completely disappear under water and there will still be room.
In 2010, an oceanographic oceanographic expedition from New Hampshire conducted research on the ocean floor in the Mariana Trench. Scientists have discovered four seamounts at least 2.5 kilometers high each, crossing the surface of the trench at the point of contact between the Philippine and Pacific lithospheric plates. According to scientists, these ridges were formed about 180 million years ago as a result of the movement of the above-mentioned plates and the gradual creep of the older and heavier Pacific plate under the Philippine one. The maximum depth of the Pacific Ocean was recorded here.
Diving into the abyss
Deep-sea submersibles with three people descended into the depths of the Challenger Abyss four times:
- Brussels explorer Jacques Picard, together with US Navy lieutenant John Walsh, were the first to dare to look into the face of the abyss. This happened on January 23, 1960. The deepest descent in the world was made on the Trieste bathyscaphe, designed by Auguste Picart, Jacques's father. This, no doubt, feat has become a record in the world of deep diving. The descent lasted 4 hours 48 minutes, and the ascent 3 hours 15 minutes. Researchers found at the bottom of the gutter large flat fish, resembling a flounder in appearance. The lowest point of the World Ocean was recorded - 10,918 meters. Later, Picard wrote the book "11 thousand meters", describing all the moments of the dive.
- On May 31, 1995, a deep-sea Japanese probe was launched into the depression, which recorded a depth of 10,911 m and also discovered ocean inhabitants - microorganisms.
- On May 31, 2009, the Nerey automatic apparatus set off for reconnaissance, which stopped at 10,902 m. He filmed a video, took pictures of the bottom landscape and collected soil samples, in which microorganisms were also found.
- Finally, on March 26, 2012, filmmaker James Cameron accomplished the feat of solo diving into the Challenger Deep. Cameron became the third person on Earth to visit the bottom of the oceans in its deepest place. The single-seat Deepsea Challenger was equipped with advanced deep-sea imaging equipment and powerful lighting equipment. Filming was done in 3G format. The Challenger Deep is featured in James Cameron's National Geographic Channel documentary.
This basin is located at the junction of the Indo-Australian Platform and the Pacific Plate. Extends from the Kermadec Trench towards the Tonga Islands. Its length is 860 km, and its depth is 10,882 m, which is the record of the Southern Hemisphere and the second deepest on the planet. The Tonga region is notorious for being one of the most active seismic zones.
In 1970, on April 17, when the Apollo 13 spacecraft returned to earth, the fired landing stage containing plutonium fell into the Tonga trench to a depth of 6 km. No attempt was made to extract it from there.
Philippine Trench
The second deepest place in the Pacific Ocean is in the Philippine Islands. The recorded depth of the depression is 10,540 m. The depression was formed as a result of the collision of granite and basalt layers, the latter, as a heavier one, undermined the granite layer. The process of meeting two lithospheric plates is called subduction, and the place of "meeting" is the subduction zone. In such places, tsunamis are born and earthquakes occur.
The depression runs along the volcanic ridge of the Kuril Islands on the border of Japan with Russia. The length of the trench is 1300 km, and the maximum depth is 10500 m. The depression was formed more than 65 million years ago during the Cretaceous period as a result of the collision of two tectonic plates.
It is located near the Kermadec Islands, which is in the northeast of New Zealand and in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The trench was first discovered by the Galatea group from Denmark, and the Soviet research vessel Vityaz studied the bottom of the trench in 1958 and recorded a maximum depth of 10,047 m. In 2008, an unknown species of sea slugs was found at the bottom of the trench, as well as up to 30 cm.
Video: inhabitants of the Mariana Trench
Our blue planet is full of secrets, and we humans strive to comprehend them. We are naturally curious, learning from the past and looking to the future with hope. The ocean is the cradle of mankind. When will he reveal his secrets to us? The greatest depth of the Pacific Ocean, which is known to scientists - are these figures true, or is the incomprehensible hidden under the black water?
The deepest section of the world ocean - the Mariana Trench is in no hurry to reveal its secrets to humanity. Research here is fraught with great risk, but what we have learned is changing many of the ideas of scientists about the structure of the world. Particularly impressive are the animals of the Mariana Trench, which have adapted to conditions that theoretically deny any earthly forms of existence.
The sight of these creatures causes fear, but most of them are absolutely harmless. The strange shape of the bodies, the luminous organs, the absence of eyes or, conversely, their incredible size are just the result of biological adaptation to a very unfriendly environment.
Life at great depths
The Mariana Trench (trench) was formed about 100,000,000 years ago, as a result of the deformation of the Pacific and Philippine lithospheric plates during convergence. Its length is over 1500 km, and the bottom width varies from 1 to 5 km. But the most amazing parameter can be called the depth of formation, reaching at the peak point - the "Challenger Abyss" 10,994 m. This is 2 km higher than Mount Everest, if it is overturned by the top.
"Bottom of the Earth"
For a long time it was believed that life in the Mariana Trench was impossible, and there was every reason for such assumptions. The mysterious chute was called the "bottom of the Earth" both in the direct and in the figurative, not entirely flattering sense of the word. Conditions here are indeed far from ideal:
- The pressure at the bottom is 108.6 MPa, which is 1000 times higher than the norm. This explains the difficulty of diving into the deepest underwater canyon in the world - even with modern technology it is difficult to create a bathyscaphe that can withstand such a colossal load.
For comparison: normal atmospheric pressure on the earth's surface is 0.1 MPa.
- At a depth of more than 1.2 km, absolute darkness reigns, sunlight does not penetrate here. There is no photosynthesis, therefore, there are no algae and phytoplankton, without which, as previously thought, the formation of food chains is impossible.
- The water temperature is very low. Theoretically, it should drop to minus values, but it stays at around 1 - 4ºС, thanks to hydrothermal vents known as "black smokers". Located at a depth of 1.6 km, geysers throw out jets of mineralized water heated to 450ºС, but not boiling due to high pressure. It is it that raises the temperature of the adjacent layers, simultaneously enriching them with useful substances.
"Black smokers" are dangerous because they actively emit hydrogen sulfide - very toxic to most organisms.
- The water in the deep layers is more salty and saturated with carbon dioxide, which prevents breathing. At the bottom of the depression is a unique Champagne geyser that emits liquid carbon. The water also contains impurities of mercury, uranium and lead, which, according to scientists, accumulate at great depths.
- The bottom is covered with viscous mucus, which is organic remains that have descended from the upper layers.
Existence beyond
Despite the complete confidence in its absence, the fauna of the Mariana Trench is real and diverse. Fish living at a depth of 6,000 m or more, as well as other representatives of the marine fauna, do not feel pressure, since the cells of their body are permeable and saturated with water. That is, the load from the outside and from the inside is the same.
After all, a person also does not feel the pressure of the “air column”, thanks to the oxygen dissolved in the blood, although on average, each inhabitant of the planet has a load of 2 tons.
This is interesting: when trying to rise to the surface, animals adapted to high pressure die. So far, at least one inhabitant of the Mariana Trench has not been delivered unharmed to ground laboratories.
Instead of a swim bladder, some deep-sea fish are equipped with fat pads to help redistribute the load in the body, their bones are replaced by light cartilage, and their muscles are practically absent. Therefore, the inhabitants of the mysterious abyss move in a peculiar way and unlike their relatives living closer to the surface of the sea.
In the deepest oceanic trench, its own unique food chain has developed. Most of the local inhabitants are fed by chemosynthetic bacteria that form colonies near "black" and "white" smokers. Other simple organisms - unicellular foramanifers, living at the very bottom of the gutter, process silt, creating a nutrient medium for molluscs and crustaceans.
Fish pick up pieces of food, which, as if into a funnel, are pulled from the upper layers. To do this, they are equipped with a huge mouth, which makes up more than half of the body, with articulated jaws and sharp, curved teeth. Smaller fish serve as food for large predators and so on.
To the complete absence of daylight, the inhabitants of the depths adapt in different ways. Some of them are equipped with photophores - special organs that emit light. In this way, you can defend yourself from predators, lure prey and distinguish between members of your species in the dark.
Other fish respond to pressure, electrical impulses emitted by other organisms, smells. Their body is dotted with thin processes with nerve endings that record the slightest changes in the environment.
And now more about the deep-sea inhabitants of the Mariana Trench.
Beauties and the Beasts
In 1960, US military officer Don Walsh and oceanographer Jacques Piccard from Switzerland became the first explorers to reach "the bottom of the Earth". In the Trieste armored bathyscaphe, they stayed in the Challenger Abyss for no more than 20 minutes, but managed to notice a school of flat fish, about 30 cm long. The Trieste find became an important scientific confirmation of the habitability of great depths.
To date, it is known that in the near-bottom part live:
- giant tube worms, up to 1.5 m long, without a mouth and anus;
- mutated starfish, including brittle stars or serpenttails;
- crabs;
- octopuses;
- sea cucumbers;
- giant poisonous amoeba, about 10 cm in size, while usually these creatures do not exceed 5 mm;
- mollusks that have managed to adapt to water saturated with hydrogen sulfide and high pressure;
- jellyfish;
- fish, including sharks.
Some of these incredible creatures are worth getting to know better.
This most beautiful jellyfish of the Hydroid class (Order Trachimedusa) lives only at great depths - at least 700 m, and belongs to the nekton marine fauna. She spends her whole life in active movement, overcoming long distances in search of zooplankton, which she mainly feeds on.
Bentocodon is small, about 2 - 3 cm in diameter, but it has a record number of the thinnest tentacles - up to 1500, which allow you to move very quickly in the water column. Its umbrella, unlike other types of jellyfish, is opaque and has a reddish color. Scientists suggest that, in this way, bentocodon "hides" the bioluminescent glow of planktonic crustaceans eaten by it, so as not to attract the attention of predators.
Small - only 9 cm long, a transparent octopus, resembling an alien angel, has telescopic vision. A unique feature allows him to see in almost impenetrable darkness, noticing prey in time and moving away from danger.
This is interesting: no other species of octopus has a telescopic eye shape..
From the name it is clear that Amphitretus prefers the pelagic zone of the ocean - that is, unlike other species of octopuses, it rarely swims to the bottom territories. However, he is able to descend to a depth of 2000 m, moving not in a horizontal, but in a vertical direction.
The tentacles of the fragile handsome man are connected not by a solid membrane, like those of other mollusks of his order, but by thin transparent threads resembling a cobweb.
The deepest-sea octopus - some individuals of this species fall below the mark of 7000 m. The mantle of grimpovtetis is decorated with two processes resembling elephant ears, for which he received the nickname Dumbo, named after the hero of the Disney cartoon of the same name.
The average size of a mollusk is 20 - 30 cm, however, an individual is known that has reached a length of 180 cm and weighed about 6 kg.
Despite the vast habitat, Grimpoteuthis is considered one of the rarest and least studied varieties of octopuses. It was not necessary to observe him in natural conditions. It is only known that this baby swallows the prey whole, while other cephalopods first tear it apart with their beak.
Grimpoteutis looks very unusual, especially when, with its “ears” apart, it soars in the ocean depths, looking out for snails, worms and small crustaceans. Despite the "cosmic" appearance, the Dumbo octopus cannot be called a terrible monster from the Mariana Trench - it is charming in its own way.
Deep sea anglerfish (sea devil)
The fish, as if emerging from a nightmare, are actually just well adapted to life in a 3-kilometer water column with a pressure of up to 30 MPa. "Sea Devil" is distinguished by pronounced sexual dimorphism. Females are much larger than males: from 5 to 100 cm versus 4 cm, respectively. Representatives of both sexes are painted in camouflage dark brown shades and are covered not with scales, but with growths in the form of plaques and spikes.
Resembling an eel or a sea snake, the predator belongs to relict breeds. Its length rarely exceeds 2 m, the body is elongated, and the movements are wriggling, like those of reptiles.
The shark feeds on squid and fish, sometimes “diluting” the diet with stingrays and smaller relatives. It hunts around the clock, hiding at the bottom and, like a snake, guarding prey. Due to the fact that the "living fossil" rarely rises to the surface, preferring to stay at marks of 1500 km, the species managed to survive.
In its sector, where other sharks rarely swim, the "frilled man" is considered a formidable predator, however, rising to the surface, the fish weakens and often dies from pressure drops.
Even among the bizarre animals that live in the Mariana Trench, this fish has an amazing structure. Her head is completely transparent, and telescopic eyes see through the skin. The elastic membrane covering the upper part of the body is filled with a liquid in which the organs of vision "float", and between them there is a bone membrane where the brain is placed.
Small - up to 15 cm in length, the fish feeds mainly on settling zooplankton. This is probably why her green, phosphorescent eyes are directed upwards. Some prey, for example, the poisonous stinging cells of jellyfish - cnidocytes or siphonophores, can deprive the macropin of vision, it is not surprising that fish have developed such an original way of protection in the process of evolution.
The fish resembles in shape the simplest carpentry tool, from which it got its name. Unlike other deep-sea inhabitants, it has a beautiful silver-blue color, which allows it to seem to dissolve in the light when the hatchet rises closer to the surface of the ocean.
Photophores are located in the lower part of the abdomen, giving a greenish glow. However, the most notable part of the animal is its huge telescopic eyes, which give it an intimidating and "otherworldly" appearance.
invisible giants
It seems that creatures of gigantic size must live in a mysterious 11-kilometer abyss in order to withstand incredible pressure from outside. Hence the periodically appearing information about giant lizards, allegedly preserved at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 20-meter prehistoric megalodon sharks, no less terrible octopuses, and so on.
While the deepest (lives at 8000 m below sea level) fish - bassogigas does not reach even 1 m in length.
None of the expeditions that visited the Pacific Trench presented indisputable evidence that monsters unknown to science live at its bottom. Although the German researchers who launched the Hayfish bathyscaphe claim that a huge lizard attacked the device. And even earlier, in 1996, an American deep-sea robot belonging to the Glomar Challenger tried to explore the cavity and was half destroyed by an unknown creature. The monster gnawed through the steel ropes and damaged the solid structures of the platform, while making unimaginable sounds recorded by the instruments.
What secrets does the Mariana Trench keep and who lives there can be seen in the video:
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The Mariana Trench (or the Mariana Trench) is the deepest place on the earth's surface. It is located on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean, 200 kilometers east of the Mariana Archipelago.
Paradoxically, humanity knows much more about the secrets of space or mountain peaks than about the depths of the ocean. And one of the most mysterious and unexplored places on our planet is just the Mariana Trench. So what do we know about him?
Mariana Trench - the bottom of the world
In 1875, the crew of the British corvette Challenger discovered a place in the Pacific Ocean where there was no bottom. Kilometer after kilometer the rope of the lot went overboard, but there was no bottom! And only at a depth of 8184 meters the descent of the rope stopped. Thus, the deepest underwater crack on Earth was discovered. It was named the Mariana Trench, after the nearby islands. Its shape (in the form of a crescent) and the location of the deepest section, called the "Challenger Abyss", were determined. It is located 340 km south of the island of Guam and has coordinates 11°22′ N. sh., 142°35′ E d. 
“The fourth pole”, “the womb of Gaia”, “the bottom of the world” has since been called this deep-water depression. Oceanographic scientists have long tried to find out its true depth. Studies of different years gave different values. The fact is that at such a colossal depth, the density of water increases as it approaches the bottom, so the properties of the sound from the echo sounder also change in it. Using barometers and thermometers at different levels along with echo sounders, in 2011 the depth value in the Challenger Abyss was set at 10994 ± 40 meters. This is the height of Mount Everest plus another two kilometers from above.
The pressure at the bottom of the underwater crevasse is almost 1100 atmospheres, or 108.6 MPa. Most of the deep-sea vehicles are designed for a maximum depth of 6-7 thousand meters. During the time that has passed since the discovery of the deepest canyon, it was possible to successfully reach its bottom only four times. 
In 1960, the Trieste deep-sea bathyscaphe, for the first time in the world, descended to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench in the area of the Challenger Abyss with two passengers on board: US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Picard.
Their observations led to an important conclusion about the presence of life at the bottom of the canyon. The discovery of the upward flow of water was also of great ecological importance: based on it, the nuclear powers refused to bury radioactive waste at the bottom of the Mariana Trough. 
In the 90s, the gutter was explored by the Japanese unmanned probe Kaiko, which brought samples of silt from the bottom, in which bacteria, worms, shrimp were found, as well as pictures of a hitherto unknown world.
In 2009, the American robot Nereus conquered the abyss, raising samples of silt, minerals, samples of deep-sea fauna and photos of inhabitants of unknown depths from the bottom. 
In 2012, James Cameron, the author of Titanic, Terminator and Avatar, dived into the abyss alone. He spent 6 hours at the bottom, collecting samples of soil, minerals, fauna, as well as taking photographs and 3D video. Based on this material, the film "Challenge to the Abyss" was created.
Amazing discoveries
In the trench at a depth of about 4 kilometers is the active Daikoku volcano, spewing liquid sulfur, which boils at 187 ° C in a small depression. The only lake of liquid sulfur was discovered only on Jupiter's moon Io. 
At 2 kilometers from the surface, "black smokers" swirl - sources of geothermal water with hydrogen sulfide and other substances that, upon contact with cold water, turn into black sulfides. The movement of sulfide water resembles puffs of black smoke. The water temperature at the point of release reaches 450 ° C. The surrounding sea does not boil only because of the density of the water (150 times greater than at the surface). 
In the north of the canyon there are "white smokers" - geysers spewing liquid carbon dioxide at a temperature of 70-80 ° C. Scientists suggest that it is in such geothermal "boilers" that one should look for the origins of life on Earth. Hot springs "warm up" the icy waters, supporting life in the abyss - the temperature at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is in the range of 1-3 ° C. 
Life beyond life
It would seem that in an atmosphere of complete darkness, silence, icy cold and unbearable pressure, life in the hollow is simply unthinkable. But studies of the depression prove the opposite: there are living creatures almost 11 kilometers under water! 
The bottom of the sinkhole is covered with a thick layer of mucus from organic sediments that have been descending from the upper layers of the ocean for hundreds of thousands of years. Mucus is an excellent nutrient medium for barrophilic bacteria, which form the basis of the nutrition of protozoa and multicellular organisms. Bacteria, in turn, become food for more complex organisms. 
The ecosystem of the underwater canyon is truly unique. Living beings have managed to adapt to an aggressive, destructive environment under normal conditions, with high pressure, lack of light, a small amount of oxygen and a high concentration of toxic substances. Life in such unbearable conditions gave many inhabitants of the abyss a frightening and unattractive look. 
Deep-sea fish have incredible mouths, seated with sharp long teeth. High pressure made their bodies small (from 2 to 30 cm). However, there are also large specimens, such as the xenophyophora amoeba, reaching 10 cm in diameter. The frilled shark and goblin shark, living at a depth of 2000 meters, generally reach 5-6 meters in length. 
Representatives of different types of living organisms live at different depths. The deeper the inhabitants of the abyss, the better their organs of vision are, allowing them to catch the slightest glimmer of light on the body of their prey in complete darkness. Some individuals themselves are able to produce directional light. Other creatures are completely devoid of organs of vision, they are replaced by organs of touch and radar. With increasing depth, underwater inhabitants lose their color more and more, the bodies of many of them are almost transparent. 
On the slopes where the “black smokers” live, mollusks live, having learned to neutralize the sulfides and hydrogen sulfide that are fatal to them. And, which remains a mystery to scientists so far, under conditions of enormous pressure at the bottom, they somehow miraculously manage to keep their mineral shell intact. Similar abilities are shown by other inhabitants of the Mariana Trench. The study of fauna samples showed a multiple excess of the level of radiation and toxic substances. 
Unfortunately, deep sea creatures die due to the change in pressure with any attempt to bring them to the surface. Only thanks to modern deep-sea vehicles it became possible to study the inhabitants of the depression in their natural environment. Representatives of the fauna unknown to science have already been identified. 
Secrets and mysteries of the "womb of Gaia"
The mysterious abyss, like any unknown phenomenon, is shrouded in a mass of secrets and mysteries. What does she hide in her depths? Japanese scientists claimed that while feeding goblin sharks, they saw a shark 25 meters long devouring goblins. A monster of this size could only be a megalodon shark, which became extinct almost 2 million years ago! Confirmation is the findings of megalodon teeth in the vicinity of the Mariana Trench, whose age dates back to only 11 thousand years. It can be assumed that specimens of these monsters are still preserved in the depths of the failure. 
There are many stories about the corpses of giant monsters thrown ashore. When descending into the abyss of the German bathyscaphe "Highfish", the dive stopped 7 km from the surface. To understand the reason, the passengers of the capsule turned on the lights and were horrified: their bathyscaphe, like a nut, was trying to crack open some prehistoric lizard! Only a pulse of electric current through the outer skin managed to scare away the monster.
On another occasion, when an American submersible was submerging, a scraping of metal began to be heard from under the water. The descent was stopped. When examining the lifted equipment, it turned out that the titanium alloy metal cable was half sawn (or gnawed), and the beams of the underwater vehicle were bent. 
In 2012, the video camera of the unmanned vehicle "Titan" from a depth of 10 kilometers transmitted a picture of metal objects, presumably UFOs. Soon the connection with the device was interrupted.
Unfortunately, there is no documentary evidence of these interesting facts; they are all based only on eyewitness accounts. Every story has its fans and skeptics, its pros and cons. 
Before a risky dive into the trench, James Cameron said that he wanted to see with his own eyes at least some of those secrets of the Mariana Trench, about which there are so many rumors and legends. But he did not see anything that would go beyond the cognizable. 
So what do we know about her?
To understand how the Mariana Underwater Gap was formed, it should be remembered that such gaps (troughs) are usually formed along the edges of the oceans under the action of moving lithospheric plates. The oceanic plates, being older and heavier, "creep" under the continental ones, forming deep dips at the junctions. The deepest is the junction of the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates near the Mariana Islands (Marian Trench). The Pacific Plate is moving at a speed of 3-4 centimeters per year, resulting in increased volcanic activity along both of its edges. 
Throughout the length of this deepest failure, four so-called bridges were found - transverse mountain ranges. The ridges were presumably formed due to the movement of the lithosphere and volcanic activity. 
The gutter is V-shaped in diameter, strongly widening upwards and narrowing downwards. The average width of the canyon in the upper part is 69 kilometers, in the widest part - up to 80 kilometers. The average width of the bottom between the walls is 5 kilometers. The slope of the walls is almost sheer and is only 7-8°. The depression stretches from north to south for 2500 kilometers. The trough has an average depth of about 10,000 meters. 
Only three people have been to the very bottom of the Mariana Trench to date. In 2018, another manned dive to the “bottom of the world” is planned at its deepest section. This time, the well-known Russian traveler Fyodor Konyukhov and polar explorer Artur Chilingarov will try to conquer the depression and find out what it hides in its depths. At present, a deep-sea bathyscaphe is being manufactured and a research program is being drawn up.
