Earth

The deep sea: perceptions and media protrayal

The deep sea makes up more than 99% of the inhabitable volume of the planet. What do people know, think, or feel about it? How can we best study it and communicate our results? With this blog I hope to bring current research on the ocean and deep-sea more into the mainstream.

This region is presented in a variety of ways by the media. A positive example is the stunning book The Deep. This surprise best-seller was a labor of love put together by Claire Nouvian after she became entranced by the deep.

Other examples may be less inspiring (and probably more typical). An article in WIRED magazine a couple years ago attempted to educate people about “What’s down there.” They highlighted factoids mainly about dolphins, turtles, seals, whales, and humans –– charismatic air-breathing vertebrates that make brief forays into the deep, but which can’t truly be considered inhabitants.

The article was accompanied by a fanciful illustration (below, left) that looks nothing like our currently-held view of deep-sea inhabitants (one example, below at right).

If they had done some more research, they might have discovered that the truth about the deep-sea really is stranger than anything they could have dreamed up. It is full of goggle-eyed squids, silicon-based “buckyballs” (radiolarians), forty-meter-long curtains of stinging death (siphonophores), and glowing jellies that propel themselves with eyelash-like paddles (ctenophores). These invertebrate predators dominate deep-sea ecosystems but observing them requires NASA-like efforts and technology.

In a way, by completely missing the boat, the article perfectly illustrated the point: we’ve barely scratched the surface in getting the public and the media to understand the deep ocean’s inhabitants.

-Steve

* Links to the WIRED article and the Johnsen article

Posted 
October 24, 2007
 in 
Earth

Like what you read?
Subscribe and receive daily news delivered to your inbox.

Your email address will only be used for EarthSky content. Privacy Policy
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

More from 

Editors of EarthSky

View All