- Despite covering almost 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, we don’t know much about our oceans at all
- MailOnline’s interactive version reveals the weird and wonderful creatures and shipwrecks that lurk beneath the waves
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From lost shipwrecks to bizarre fish, the deep seas teem with mysteries.
But despite covering almost 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, scientists say we don’t know much about our oceans at all.
“We have explored only five percent of our world ocean,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explained.
“That means 95 percent of our ocean is unknown.”
So, what’s really hiding beneath the surface? Use MailOnline’s interactive graphic to explore the weird and wonderful creatures and shipwrecks that lurk beneath the waves.
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The ocean is divided into different depth zones: the epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic, abyssopelagic and hadalpelagic.
The sun’s light only reaches the beginning of the bathypelagic zone 1000 meters below the surface.
Beyond this depth, freezing temperatures, total darkness and extreme pressure ensure that only the best-adapted animals can survive.
But even at the deepest points of the ocean, in places like the Izu-Ogasawara Trench south of Japan, scientists have discovered a huge variety of life.
In the total darkness and extreme pressure of the deep sea, only strange creatures like this Bigfin Squid in the Gulf of Mexico are well adapted enough to survive
Huge sperm whales are known to dive more than 2,000 meters in search of prey, chasing the elusive giant squid.
However, the record for the deepest fish ever found goes to the snailfish, which has been spotted 8,300 meters below the surface.
People have even reached Challenger Deep, the deepest point in the ocean located at approximately 10,928 meters in the Mariana Trench.