Find out how you can become an ocean explorer. Read about a variety of marine career fields at NOAA Sea Grant, and then explore over 50 ocean-related careers at COSEE Ocean Careers.
Glow-in-the-Dark Octopod
Glow-in-the-Dark Octopod
Sunlight doesn’t reach the depths where this octopod lives. But that’s no problem. It produces its own light—a bright yellow ring around the mouth. More than 90% of deep ocean species are bioluminescent.
Scientists find mysterious squiggles and spirals in the sea floor’s thick ooze. They don’t know what animals made most of these tracks. But they did figure out what made this one. Click on the first link on the right to see it.
Tens of thousands of underwater mountains, their peaks far below the surface, dot the ocean floor. Most of these seamounts are extinct volcanoes. Less than 1% have been explored.
Seafloor mud glazes this bowl made by artist Joan Lederman. She lives in Massachusetts near the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), which sometimes gives her extra mud collected by its researchers.
Want to see more deep ocean creatures and features? Take this interactive dive. Descend through the twilight zone to the deep ocean—and all the way to the ocean floor.
In this excerpt from the Deep Ocean Explorers video, scientists describe how bioluminescent organisms create a breathtaking underwater fireworks display.
