SECRETS OF THE DEEP: Why Are Sea Creatures Rising to the Surface?
Why Are Deep Sea Creatures Suddenly Coming to the Surface?
Hello friends, this is an incident of January 2023. A fisherman in Japan went out to sea in his boat for fishing. After reaching a spot in the middle of the sea, he cast his fishing net. A little later, when he checked the net, he found an unusually long fish tangled in it. The fish was about 6 meters long, with a slimy, rubbery, whitish body. This wasn’t an ordinary fish — it was a deep-sea creature known as the oarfish. Oarfish are found around 1,000 meters deep in the ocean. The fisherman released it back into the sea because according to Japanese legends, seeing an oarfish near the surface is an omen of disaster, often earthquakes. Back in 2011, just before a massive earthquake struck Japan, around 20 dead oarfish were found washed ashore. Today, people are starting to question whether there’s truth to these tales, as dead oarfish have been spotted not only in Japan but around the world in recent years. In 2023, a fisherman caught about 50 oarfish at once. In 2024, oarfish were sighted three times in California. In February 2025, a live oarfish was seen in Mexico. This frequent appearance is surprising because oarfish sightings were incredibly rare until just a few years ago. The first live oarfish was recorded only in 2001. But now, many deep-sea creatures are surfacing, not just oarfish. For example, the giant phantom jellyfish, with ribbon-like arms that can stretch up to 10 meters, typically lives 1-2 kilometers deep — yet it was found just 80 meters below the surface near Antarctica. In Russia, an alien-like creature called the smooth lumpfish, whose body resembles a brain, was found. Meanwhile, in Spain, a black seadevil anglerfish, a terrifying deep-sea predator, was discovered just 2,000 meters from shore near the ocean surface. These creatures, which normally live in the deepest parts of the ocean, are suddenly appearing near the top.
The question arises: What exactly is going on? For thousands of years, humans knew almost nothing about these creatures. Why are they now coming up to the surface?
Let’s take a closer look.
About 71% of Earth's surface is covered with water, mostly divided into five major oceans: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, and Arctic. 97% of all water on Earth is in these oceans. Surprisingly, about 94% of wildlife is found within them. But humans have only explored about 5% of the oceans — the rest, especially the deep sea, remains mysterious. In fact, we have better maps of Mars than we do of the ocean floor. While 12 astronauts have spent about 300 hours on the moon, only 3 people have reached the deepest part of the ocean — the Challenger Deep — and they stayed there for just 3 hours.
The top layer of the ocean, visible from shore, is called the sunlight zone, where sunlight can reach. This zone is rich with colorful marine life and is the only place where photosynthesis is possible. It’s home to algae, phytoplankton, whales, dolphins, turtles, and sharks. But as you go deeper, sunlight fades. Only 16% of sunlight remains at 10 meters depth, and by 100 meters, just 1% is left. Below 1,000 meters, no sunlight can reach. That’s why it’s so difficult for humans to explore the deep sea. Below the sunlight zone is the twilight zone (200–1,000 meters deep), where bizarre creatures like the strawberry squid live. This squid has one large eye to look upward at light and one small eye to see bioluminescence in the dark. Its red color appears nearly black in the twilight zone.
There’s also the bloody-belly comb jelly, whose red body emits rainbow-like lights when it moves. This light is created through a process called bioluminescence, where chemicals like luciferin and luciferase react to produce light without heat. Deep-sea creatures use this for camouflage, attracting prey, or communication. Other fascinating creatures include the sea angel, tiny yet deadly, and the barreleye fish, with a transparent head and upward-facing eyes. Then there's the giant squid, which can be 13 meters long with eyes the size of footballs — the largest eyes of any animal. Beyond 1,000 meters is the midnight zone, with no light at all. Here, creatures like the anglerfish live, using glowing lures to attract prey. Males are tiny and fuse to the female’s body for reproduction — literally becoming part of her, sharing blood and tissue. At even greater depths, in the abyssal zone (up to 6,000 meters), we find animals like the Dumbo octopus, named after its ear-like fins resembling the Disney elephant. These graceful swimmers never come near the surface. The Titanic wreck lies in this zone, about 3,810 meters deep. Deeper still is the hadal zone (6,000 to 11,000 meters), the ocean’s most mysterious region.
So why are deep-sea creatures coming up to the surface now?
During World War II, naval sonar operators discovered something strange: at night, the sea seemed to rise. Later, they realized it wasn’t the water itself — it was billions of fish migrating upward. This daily movement is called the deep scattering layer, and it happens every night as creatures migrate upwards to feed, then return before sunrise to avoid predators. This movement is called diel vertical migration, and it’s the largest daily migration on Earth by mass. These creatures migrate to eat phytoplankton at the surface but avoid doing so during the day due to the threat of being eaten by sharks, whales, and dolphins. However, in recent years, these creatures have started staying near the surface even during the day. The main reason is Global warming.
Earth’s temperature has been rising rapidly, and the oceans absorb over 90% of this heat. The surface water warms up, while the deeper layers stay cold, creating a barrier that prevents oxygen from reaching lower depths. As a result, deep-sea animals are being forced upward in search of oxygen, putting them at risk since they’re not adapted to survive in shallow waters. By the end of this century, the temperature of the abyssal zone is expected to rise by 1°C, which could cause deep-sea creatures to migrate 4–11 times more than they currently do. Many of these species haven’t even been discovered yet — and might go extinct before we ever find them. This isn’t just a problem for deep-sea life. It affects all of us. Phytoplankton in the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide, much like trees do. But rising pollution and temperatures are reducing the ocean’s ability to do this. That’s a threat not just to marine ecosystems, but to the climate and life on Earth. Climate change is a threat that will be felt for many years to come, but the current threat to the deep sea from humans is deep sea mining. So far, no country has been given permission for deep sea mining. The rivers and forests of the earth have already fallen victim to the inhumane attitude of humans, but we still have time to stop this deep sea mining. Because it is very dangerous for our future generations. We can take a small step today and extend the life span of our future generations.
Sign the Petition to stop Deep Sea Mining:
0 Comments