23 Fascinating, Weird Or Even Scary Facts About The Ocean People In This Online Group Decided To Share

Greenland sharks can live to be 500 years old. Just lurking and swimming and doing sharky things for 500 YEARS.

The fact that the famous picture of the blobfish is not actually what a blobfish looks like. When scientists first found them, they did not know that the blobfish is not as resilient as other deep sea creatures, and That particular blobfish was pulled to the surface too quickly, and had its skin and flesh torn off from the immense force of rapid decompression. The blobfish in that photo has its skin torn off. What’s even worse, is that companies have made t shirts and even squishies entirely based off of this photo. It still chills me to this day.

MintyLotus said:

Lobsters are effectively immortal

WafflesOfChaos explained:

They technically don't age, and they will be as active at 70 years old as they were at 5 years old. They will only die from not being able to molt properly anymore.

the Corryvreckan Maelstrom in Scotland is a permanent whirlpool that is the third strongest in the world. It can produce 15 feet high standing waves.

The concept of "Shark Spotters" is common where I live. People stand at a vantage point above popular beaches and look for sharks in the water to help ensure the safety of beach-go'ers.

However, underwater sensors have shown us (well, shark biologists) that WAY MORE sharks swim very close to the beach than shark spotters can see.

People really have no idea how many sharks they've probably encountered - that being said, very few sharks are actually dangerous to humans.

Most oxygen on earth comes from phytoplankton in the ocean, not trees. Also, the giant squid wasn't seen alive until 2001 and was largely considered a myth before modern photography.

There is a floating trash island [The Great Pacific garbage patch] which is 3 times the size of France

Back when Animal Planet was a channel that was worth watching, I learned that the Sailfish is the fastest fish in the sea. It can reach speeds of 68 mph! (110 km/h for you Metric users) I always thought that was really cool.

The deep sea is the largest museum on Earth: There are more artifacts and remnants of history in the ocean than in all of the world’s museums, combined.

We have only explored less than 5 percent of the Earth’s oceans. In fact, we have better maps of Mars than we do of the ocean floor (even the submerged half of the United States).

The white-sand beaches of Hawaii are made of parrotfish poop.

Writer's note: According Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "The fish bite and scrape algae off of rocks and dead corals with their parrot-like beaks, grind up the inedible calcium-carbonate reef material (made mostly of coral skeletons) in their guts, and then excrete it as sand."

Tuna are going extinct.....google it

Writer's note: The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists 63 tuna species of which 15 are decreasing in population. The Bluefin tuna is critically endangered.

Not scary but the Pacific is that deep that it hides most of the worlds tallest Mountain

The Pacific Ocean is ever so slightly shrinking each year, while the Atlantic Ocean is ever so slightly growing. This is because the North American Plate is ever sliding westward. Given enough time, the West Coast of the United States could meet up with Asia.

If a man managed to get to the bottom of the ocean, he would feel a weight equivalent to that of 50 passenger planes over his body.

Spontaneous thermal vents support their own micro-worlds of crustaceans and worms. When the vents become inactive, everything dies, leaving a graveyard of sub-marine worm shells.

There is a height difference between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Writer's note: According to Sceince Direct, "The surface of the Pacific Ocean stands about 40 cm higher than the Atlantic Ocean."

Most ships cannot survive freak waves - they denied the existence of freak waves until one was recorded at an oil rig in the north sea, as a result most ships, especially tankers and freight, are not designed to survive them. The best you can hope is that they avoid the areas they are more common

Sea cucumbers account for the majority of biomass on the abyssal plain. The abyssal plain accounts for 50% of the earths surface

The top 10 feet of the ocean hold as much heat as our entire atmosphere

Not necessarily creepy, but at the bottom of the ocean, there is a constant snow made of dead and decomposing organisms and the feces of living organisms. It’s called ‘marine snow.’