25 Fascinating Facts About the Ocean

Despite the ocean making up 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, the sea is a pretty mysterious place. There’s a lot we don’t know about it, and even more we don’t know about the creatures in it. But even though our knowledge about this biome is slim, some of the information we do have is pretty impressive. Check out these 25 crazy facts about the earth’s largest inhabited space.

1. 90 percent of all Earth’s lifeforms live in the ocean’s abyssal zone, which is shrouded in complete darkness.

2. Some of these abyssal creatures create their own light by glowing in the dark.

3. When fresh water and salt water meet, it produces hydrogen sulfide that changes the density of the water. This can create rivers and lakes under the ocean’s surface.

4. Kelp that grows on the ocean floor can grow up to two feet per day.

5. The deepest recorded point in the ocean is nearly 36,000 feet deep, but the deepest dive a human can withstand is only 2,000 feet.

6. 90 percent of volcanic activity happens under the ocean’s surface.

7. The largest mountain range is the Mid-Oceanic Mountain Ridge, which is in the ocean.

8. Mankind stepped foot on the moon before they touched the bottom of the Mid-Oceanic Mountain Ridge.

9. Sound travels faster underwater than it does through air.

10. The water pressure at the deepest recorded point in the ocean is equivalent to one human holding up 50 Boeing 747s.

11. In 1997, hydrophones captured a massive underwater sound that later became known as “The Bloop.” The source of this sound was never discovered, but many have attributed it to Cthulhu, the fictional part-octopus character written about by H.P. Lovecraft.

12. The Earth is the only known planet to have bodies of water as large as our oceans.

13. The Denmark Strait is an area where cold water and warm water meet, causing the colder water to flow underneath the warmer water, essentially creating an underwater waterfall.

14. Coral produces its own natural compounds that act as a sunscreen. Scientists are already studying this compound to try and mimic the formula for humans.

15. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from the moon.

16. The longest known mammal migration is that of the gray whale, which travels 14,000 miles over the span of 172 days.

17. Twenty percent of the ocean’s floor is covered by coral reefs.

18. As of 2015, mankind has only explored about one percent of the ocean.

19. More humans are killed by jellyfish every year than by sharks.

20. There are more historic artifacts at the bottom of the ocean than there are in all the museums on Earth combined.

21. Marine biologists have estimated that we’ve only discovered about one-third of marine life.

22. The “oceanic pole of inaccessibility”, otherwise known as Point Nemo, is the most remote area of ocean and is about 1,000 miles away from any dry land. In fact, it’s so remote that at certain points in time, astronauts have been closer to Point Nemo than anyone on Earth.

23. In 1992, a cargo ship from China accidentally dropped a container of more than 28,000 rubber ducks into the Pacific Ocean. Oceanographers tracked the mistake to better understand ocean currents, and the last rubber duck sighting was over a decade later.

24. Many fish have naturally-occurring proteins that prevent ice crystals from forming in their blood.

25. Researchers estimate that there is approximately 20 million tons of gold in the world’s oceans.