Why Do Deep Sea Creatures Look So Scary? Anna Rothschild of Gross Science explains how different it is at the bottom of the sea: Food can be scarce, there’s tremendous ocean pressure, and it’s dark. These environmental factors have a defining influence on the morphology — the body form, inside and out — of the creatures that live there.
So while they may look like a nightmare, these deep sea animals have adapted perfectly for the place that they live… snaggle teeth, bioluminescent lures, gelatinous flesh, and all.
Related vocab: Aphotic zone, marine snow, photophore, and bioluminescence.
Watch more Gross Science on this site. Also: More deep sea creature videos, including these eerie critters.
Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.