Itoero Posted September 28, 2018 Posted September 28, 2018 An expedition to the Atacama Trench has uncovered a wealth of information. They found three new fish species. They do not conform to the preconceived stereotypical image of what a deep-sea fish should look like. Instead of giant teeth and a menacing frame, the fishes that roam in the deepest parts of the ocean are small, translucent, bereft of scales—and highly adept at living where few other organisms can. https://phys.org/news/2018-09-species-fish-extreme-depths-pacific.html#jCp 1
lucks_021 Posted September 29, 2018 Posted September 29, 2018 I know it's maybe a stupid question, but I am a layman about this topic. Why are this fishes species translucent? If that is to survive the predators or something, why all fishes aren't? (sorry about my English, I'm learning it too)
StringJunky Posted September 29, 2018 Posted September 29, 2018 (edited) On 9/29/2018 at 4:24 AM, lucks_021 said: I know it's maybe a stupid question, but I am a layman about this topic. Why are this fishes species translucent? If that is to survive the predators or something, why all fishes aren't? (sorry about my English, I'm learning it too) Expand It's not a stupid question. Making colour pigments takes energy (food, which will be scarce in the dark depths) and there is no evolutionary reason, like protecting from harmful light rays, hiding, etc for the fish to evolve to be coloured. To put it simply: deep sea organisms generally aren't going to make something they don't need to survive or reproduce, especially when food is hard to find. Edited September 29, 2018 by StringJunky 2
studiot Posted September 29, 2018 Posted September 29, 2018 On 9/29/2018 at 4:50 AM, StringJunky said: It's not a stupid question. Making colour pigments takes energy (food, which will be scarce in the dark depths) and there is no evolutionary reason, like protecting from harmful light rays, hiding, etc for the fish to evolve to be coloured. To put it simply: deep sea organisms generally aren't going to make something they don't need to survive or reproduce, especially when food is hard to find. Expand +1
michel123456 Posted September 29, 2018 Posted September 29, 2018 On 9/29/2018 at 4:50 AM, StringJunky said: It's not a stupid question. Making colour pigments takes energy (food, which will be scarce in the dark depths) and there is no evolutionary reason, like protecting from harmful light rays, hiding, etc for the fish to evolve to be coloured. To put it simply: deep sea organisms generally aren't going to make something they don't need to survive or reproduce, especially when food is hard to find. Expand But they have eyes. In an environment without light.
StringJunky Posted September 29, 2018 Posted September 29, 2018 (edited) On 9/29/2018 at 12:26 PM, michel123456 said: But they have eyes. In an environment without light. Expand Which will be adapted to that environment. It will likely be relatively rudimentary in what they can detect and the frequency range they can detect in. No doubt there are exceptions. Some organisms are luminescent, so some will be adapted to see that. Edited September 29, 2018 by StringJunky
Itoero Posted September 29, 2018 Author Posted September 29, 2018 On 9/29/2018 at 4:24 AM, lucks_021 said: (sorry about my English, I'm learning it too) Expand That's ok.My use of English is probably worse, I often quote things and use google translate Those fishes can't deal with sunlight and are adapted to live under huge water pressure. Deepsea fish should be left in the depth of the sea.
studiot Posted September 29, 2018 Posted September 29, 2018 Thank you for posting this itoero. +1 I didn't see the video first time. Did you see the BBC Attenborough series Blue Planet 2? You could compare his deep sea shots with these. 1
lucks_021 Posted September 29, 2018 Posted September 29, 2018 (edited) Thank you Stringjunky, your answer was really helpful, mainly this part: On 9/29/2018 at 4:50 AM, StringJunky said: deep sea organisms generally aren't going to make something they don't need to survive or reproduce, especially when food is hard to find. Expand And Itoero, I usually use "Grammarly", its a google chrome extension that helps when I write on forums. (I think they have a windows app too) On 9/29/2018 at 1:49 PM, Itoero said: That's ok.My use of English is probably worse, I often quote things and use google translate Expand Edited September 29, 2018 by lucks_021
Itoero Posted September 30, 2018 Author Posted September 30, 2018 On 9/29/2018 at 2:23 PM, studiot said: Did you see the BBC Attenborough series Blue Planet 2? You could compare his deep sea shots with these. Expand I just did..those are amazing! Aren't deep sea shots from Blue Planet taken a lot higher in the ocean? According to Wikipedia deep sea organisms generally inhabit zones from 1000-6000m Yet the three new fish species they found live at 7500m bellow the surface. At 7500m depth you have extreme pressure, low conc. oygen, no light and a temperature that rarely exceeds 3 °C (37.4 °F) and falls as low as −1.8 °C (28.76 °F).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_sea_fish
studiot Posted September 30, 2018 Posted September 30, 2018 On 9/30/2018 at 4:00 PM, Itoero said: Aren't deep sea shots from Blue Planet taken a lot higher in the ocean? Expand I seem to remember one of the programmes in the series went down into Mindanao deep. Perhaps someone with a better memory will confirm or refute that?
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