What Lurks Beneath?

Let's be real.  There are places in the deepest parts of the ocean that none of us will ever see.  There are some of our braver sorts who will venture into the depths that hide some of the more interesting ocean creatures however.  They can't get to the required depth with just the normal tank diving apparatus but they find more elaborate ways to travel to the depths. Those are the adventurers who may just find some of these amazing creatures.

Since October is Halloween month let's start with Mr.Creepy.  The Vampire Squid, (Vampyromorpha), isn't actually a squid but a sole surviving member of it's own unique cephalopod. Let's just say that it is a "living fossil" that bridges the gap between the squid and the octopus. It's blood red color with glowing eyes may have helped originate the name.  It lives at depths between 2000 to 3000 feet below the surface.  When threatened, this creature inverts it body exposing the spiny webbed tentacles and emits a thick clouds of glowing mucus which often confuses the attacking enemy.

Imagine, being in the ocean in your SlipIns long sleeve swimsuit just enjoying the warm water and sunshine and up pops the Vampire Squid. Would you just immediately die of fright?  It's probably lucky these creatures live so far down in the ocean.

Another fascinating creature of the deep is the Black Dragon Fish.  Like many of the creatures of the deep, the Black Dragon Fish's skin contains unique arrangements of pigment granules that absorb 99% of the light that hits it rendering this fish almost invisible even under an intense beam of light from an underwater spotlight.  These amazing creatures live at depths between 1000 feet to 6000 feet. The Black Dragon Fish employs an intense white light hanging from it's lower jaw that attracts prey to those razor sharp teeth.

The Gulper Eel is another prowler of the deep who has a massive pelican like mouth that can expand large enough to swallow animals much larger than itself similar to a Pelican.  It's expandable stomach allows this eel to feast on whatever crosses it's path.  The tip of it's tail glows pinkish-red.  It waves it's tail in the inky black water to attract it's meals.  These creatures live beneath the surface from 3000 feet to 6000 feet.

Seeing these crazy creatures may be on the bucket list of some people but most of us are intregued by critters in the more assessable depths.

Our fearsome creatures are more like the Sting Ray, who are notorious for painful stings when we forget to shuffle our feet while walking on the sandy bottoms of our favorite beaches. 

The Sea Urchin, whose spines inbed themselves in our feet when we aren't careful where we place our feet when walkin on the rocky bottoms. 

The Sea Lice that are the almost invisible creatures that make are life miserable with their bites that are much worse than any mosquito.  

                        This is a highly enlarged image of a Sea Lice

                                  This is the result of Sea Lice Bites

Thankfully most of our fears of the deep can be eliminated with some simple precautions.  You can avoid being stung by the Stingray by shuffling when you walk through the sand.  You can avoid the puncture wounds of the Sea Urchin by slipping on water shoes and you can eliminate the Sea Lice bites by simply wearing the SlipIns Long Sleeve Swimwear or DiveSkins.  

It's also easy to avoid the fearsome creates of the depths by staying above 1000 feet when you dive.  Sometimes staying protected is simple.