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> At 8km down, they are experiencing more than 80 megapascals, or 800 times the pressure at the ocean surface. Is this somewhat a coincidence or is this the beauty of the metric system?
> Likewise, their approach to food - they are suction feeders and consume tiny crustaceans, of which there are many in trenches. I remember James Cameron’s dive and the main life pictured was crustaceans. I’ve also read they are a significant amount of life in underground aquifers [1] was crustaceans, which also had blind reptiles which also fed on crustaceans and had transparent skin similar to those snailfish. I’m…
as far as blindness, there’s not really visible sunlight reaching there, so sight probably doesn’t do a lot, and eyeballs are squishy.
If you ever wondered how they survive the pressure, from wikipedia: TMAO (Trimethylamine N-oxide) is found in the tissues of marine crustaceans and marine fish, where it prevents water pressure from distorting proteins and thus killing the animal. The concentration of TMAO increases with the depth at which the animal lives; TMAO is found in high concentrations in the deepest-living described fish species, Pseudolipar…
Fun fact: the (in)famous Icelandic "rotted shark" (hákarl) food is rotted/fermented in order to remove the toxic TMAO (and urea): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl
Ok that’s saying something.
> Likewise, their approach to food - they are suction feeders and consume tiny crustaceans, of which there are many in trenches. I remember James Cameron’s dive and the main life pictured was crustaceans. I’ve also read they are a significant amount of life in underground aquifers [1] was crustaceans, which also had blind reptiles which also fed on crustaceans and had transparent skin similar to those snailfish. I’m…
I would imagine it is the extreme pressure. At that kind of depth you either need a really strong body and small surface area (tiny crustacean) or a gelatinous body where that doesn’t matter (snailfish). Those are probably disadvantageous at lower pressure environments. (I’m curious how molting would work at high pressures though, since the crustacean would lose its shell.) as far as blindness, there’s not really vis…
This is why when you bring them to the surface quickly they die from the sudden decrease in pressure. As to eyes bioluminescence is common in the deep and nothing would bother if nobody had eyes.
If you ever wondered how they survive the pressure, from wikipedia: TMAO (Trimethylamine N-oxide) is found in the tissues of marine crustaceans and marine fish, where it prevents water pressure from distorting proteins and thus killing the animal. The concentration of TMAO increases with the depth at which the animal lives; TMAO is found in high concentrations in the deepest-living described fish species, Pseudolipar…
> At 8km down, they are experiencing more than 80 megapascals, or 800 times the pressure at the ocean surface. Is this somewhat a coincidence or is this the beauty of the metric system?
On other hand 1kg being equal to 1 litre of water is by design in metric system.
Other happens stance is that pressure on surface is about 101 325 pascals.
So things work out that way...
If this kind of thing interests you at all, I highly recommend it. I didn’t know much going in, but found it fascinating.
To those who don't know: "The Culture" is a... society(?) of godlike AI ships/minds from the series of SF books by Ian M. Banks.
SpaceX named their landing barges after Culture ships too, the "Of Course I Still Love You", "Just Read The Instructions" and "A Shortfall of Gravitas".