Jakarta –
Far from the presence of humans, sea creatures, especially invertebrates or animals without a backbone, are known to reach gigantic sizes in the deepest and coldest parts of the oceans. I wonder why?
Whereas in the deepest part of the ocean resources are very limited. Quoted via the Live Science page, a study published in 2006 in the Journal of Biogeography explains that most food comes from shallow waters.
Thus, the creatures that live in the deepest ocean only get a fraction. However, an interesting incident happened.
Alicia Bitondo, a senior aquarist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, who works on deep-sea species, says the scarcer food is, the bigger the sea creatures will become.
For example, the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis Hamiltoni) in subantarctic waters, which is 14 times longer than the arrow squid (Nototodarus sloanii), which is common in New Zealand, according to Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
Why Deep Sea Creatures Became Giants
According to Alicia, the basic reason why animals grow when food is scarce is because they have a better metabolism, especially when it comes to storing food.
When marine animals die and are dragged to the deepest seafloor, larger predators can consume the carcasses and store them for a longer time.
Even though his metabolism is good, the cold temperature in the sea makes him slow. Thus, they will grow to maturity slowly.
An example is the Greenland shark (Somniosus microcephalus) which grows only about 1 cm per year. The animal will reach the age of sexual maturity at the age of 150 years. Long time isn’t it?
Coupled with the lack of predators in the deep sea, Greenland sharks can live very long and grow very large.
Giant Beast on the surface
Before it was known that giants lived in the deep sea, scientists discovered them near the South Pole. In the Antarctic region, giant animals are seen living closer to the surface.
The giant animals found were giant sea slugs, worms, sea spiders, and even giant single-celled organisms.
Art Woods, an ecophysiologist who has studied polar giants (gigantism) and a professor at the University of Montana at Missoula, explained that they come to the surface because they are related to the oxygen supply.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the polar waters should have very high oxygen concentrations. However, the giant beasts in the area used up oxygen very slowly.
“The environment allowed them to develop a larger body size and tissues without suffering from a lack of oxygen,” said Art Woods.
Thus, a large supply of oxygen can be related to the growth and development of sea creatures to become bigger.
A 2017 study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B adds that sea giants have a limit to how big they can grow.
Take the giant arctic sea spider, for example. They can grow up to 30.5 cm. When examined, the team found that larger sea spiders had lower levels of oxygen in their bodies.
Aerobic metabolism depends on oxygen supply. The oxygen level indicates there is an imbalance in oxygen supply and demand.
For that there is always a limit regarding how big they can grow. Unfortunately, this hypothesis cannot be relied upon with certainty about the dramatic changes in the body size of deep-sea creatures.
Art Wood stated that in biology nothing is certain, even in proving this.
Watch Video “An Iceberg The Size Of London Breaks Off From Antarctica“
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