Covering more than 70 percent of the surface of this Earth and containing about 97 percent of this planet's water, what really is that large body of liquid that surrounds us, stretching from one corner of the world to the other? This bottomless pit of doom that seemingly never ends causes me nothing but a flood of constant panic whenever I think about what really could be residing in the depths of the ocean.
"It's just made of water," they say. Yes.
Undrinkable water.
The process of osmosis inside your body attempts to balance concentrations of matter on both sides of a semipermeable membrane. Because the salinity of seawater is approximately four times that of our body fluids, this will disturb the process of osmosis and cause your cells to shrink. My cells? Shrinking? Not only does the thought of my cells, wrinkled and sad, make me uncomfortable, I picture the salt absorbing all the regular water, disturbing the balance and imposing dehydration throughout my body, eventually leading to death.
Aside from the ocean being able to disturb the peace inside your body, we don't even know what's in this cold, vast basin, full of the unknown. Even though 80 percent of all living things exist in the ocean, studies have shown that there is no sunlight past the 330 foot mark, implicating that there are no plants. If there are no plants, all living beings past that point must be carnivorous-type monsters that were exiled by the rest of the oceanic species for being too scary. Or, maybe it's because they are indestructible enough to be able to withstand the intense pressure in the ocean that could ultimately cause a normal human body to explode. But in all honesty, along with the vents of boiling-hot sulfuric acid that reside in the rifts of the ocean, maybe its not so bad. Just kidding, it is that bad.
While the deepest recorded ocean depth is 35,814 feet, us humans have only explored less than 5 percent of the ocean. Isn't that reassuring? No? Okay, let's continue.
My elementary school science class is where I was introduced to algae. What I thought was green plants that embodied what it meant to look like a loofa, harmlessly floating around the in ocean, I learned that they are actually part of a phenomenon called a red tide. A red tide occurs when colonies of algae grow out of control and produce toxins that harm people and marine life. What you thought were simple plants that lived in the water actually have the capacity to turn the ocean water red and be fatal to humans that come in contact with it.
Not only are plants in the ocean out to get us, jellyfish, the cute, colorful, floating jelly-patties of the ocean have claimed about 15-30 times more lives than sharks have. Scientists have revealed that the jellyfish population is increasing exponentially, causing them to worry that jellyfish will replace the species of fish in the future.
"But jellyfish are so cute."
Okay, then let's talk about the colossal squid. Yep. This species of squid weighs an estimated 990 pounds and is about 39 feet long. What happened to the giant squid, you ask? Well, the colossal squid is so whack, I guess that scientists had to find a way to out-name the giant squid. I wonder what could be next.
Thinking about the ocean sends me into a pit of darkness where I am internally screaming and the monsters of the ocean all seem to reside. Feel free to google "why the ocean is scary" and you'll be met with photos of fish that belong in your nightmares. But hey, looks aren't everything, right?
Nevertheless, if this doesn't scare you and you still love that uncharted abyss that we call the ocean, congrats. You do you.
