MONTEREY IN THE DEEP

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is, hands down, the best aquarium in the world. I admit I haven’t been to the Georgia Aquarium yet when I make that judgement, but Monterey really has some of the best designed, best lit, and best explained exhibits I’ve ever seen. And I have seen a lot of aquariums.

Right now they are conducting three different “in the deep” missions, one of which is “Discover Alien Life Forms.” On the project site, they have listed several interesting deep sea facts. My favorite is one where the animals have special protection against food visibly glowing in their stomachs. Can you imagine if, say, YTP Spouse’s peanut butter cups glowed in my stomach when I ate them? Life would be so much more difficult.

More than three quarters of the animals in the deep sea can produce their own light through bioluminescence.
* Many deep midwater animals are red in color. This makes them almost invisible in the dim blue light that filters down from the sea surface.
* When attacked, some jellies light up like burglar alarms to make their attackers visible to even larger predators.
* Some midwater fishes and jellies have transparent bodies but their stomachs are opaque. This way, when they eat a glowing animal, they don’t become visible to other midwater predators.
Almost every time MBARI midwater researchers make ROV dives more than a mile below the surface, they see animals that have yet to be given scientific names.