2019-11

Who is the diving champion in the animal world, and can it dive to 10,000 meters under the sea?

Speaking of the diving champion of the animal world, many people say that it is sperm whale, is this true? What is the diving record of marine animals? Are there any cetaceans that can dive to 10,000 meters under the sea? This article addresses these issues.

Diving limit of cetaceans: 3000m

Cetaceans actually live mainly in shallow seas. For example, the largest animal today, the blue whale, mostly moves within 100 meters of the water surface, and the marine radon killer whale has a limit radon record of only ten minutes. The most widely known diving whale is the sperm whale. Its deep diving record is 2250 meters, and it can hold breath for more than an hour.

Sperm whale

The sperm whale is the largest toothed whale with a body length of more than 20 meters, but it mainly uses small squid and octopus as its main food. It also dives to obtain these abundant cephalopods. These deep-sea squids have severely degraded their motor capacity, almost staying still, and the sperm whale can eat one bite at a time. Although deep diving is physically demanding and must be returned to the surface for ventilation in time, this meal is very cost-effective for sperm whales.

Regarding diving ability, flippers are not inferior, and the southern elephant seal is the most prominent. Satellite positioning shows that southern elephant seals love diving, they rarely surface, usually return to diving after a few minutes of breathing, each diving more than 20 minutes. They travel between the sea and the deep waters of 400-1000 meters and feed on squid and fish in the deep sea. In 2005, a southern elephant seal dived to a depth of 2388 meters, which broke the record of sperm whales, and the cetaceans temporarily gave up the throne of diving champions.

Southern Elephant Seal

In 2014, a little-known cetacean, the Koch Beak Whale, regained the crown of diving champion. Coriolis beaked whale is a medium-sized toothed whale that can reach 7 meters in length and weigh about 2.5 tons. Its daily diving depth is above 1000, while sperm whales are usually within 800 meters. Because it is too mysterious, humans only realized its diving ability late. Studies on the California coast have shown that Coriolis beaked whales dive to a depth of 2992 meters and hold their breath for up to two hours and 17 minutes. Both are world record holders.

Many popular science books still say that the sperm whale is a diving champion. This is because the information has not been updated in time. The current new champion should be the Koch's beaked whale. There are many species of beaked whales that are good at diving. For example, the current dive record of the beak whale is 1777 meters, and that of the beak whale is 1408 meters. Other species of beaked whales are expected to break the record for Coriolis beaked whales in the future. But at present, the limit depth of cetaceans is only 3,000 meters, which is too far away from the deep sea of 10,000 meters.

Grounded Coriolis beaked whale

Which creature can dive to the bottom of the ocean ten thousand meters?

Large animals have no motive for deep dives, like beaked whales, elephant seals and sperm whales dive for food. Because there is no photosynthesis in the deep ocean, it is mainly fed by the "sea snow" falling from the upper layer. It is very barren, and the deeper it becomes, the more barren it is. There is nothing for big animals to eat. In the 2000-3000 meter water layer, there are also large sharks such as the gray six-gill shark and the sleeping shark, as well as large cephalopods such as king squid and antarctic mid-clawed squid. There are no big guys below 3000 meters.

Greenland sleeping shark, deep-sea large shark, body length up to 6 meters, maximum perch depth 2200 meters

Mammals need to breathe oxygen from the air, so extreme diving is very dangerous. In addition to diving to overcome the resistance of the water, they must retain their strength to ensure that they can return to the sea for ventilation. The pressure difference changes. In terms of adapting to the high-pressure environment of the deep sea, mammals are not as good as cartilage fish, cartilage fish are not as good as cartilage fish, and cartilage fish are not as good as invertebrates.

No traces of marine mammals have been found below 3000 meters. There is a small shark called the spiny scale shark that can live in the abyss of 4500 meters. A variety of lionfish were found at a depth of more than 8,000 meters in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. At the bottom of the trench, there is an amphipod arthropod named short-legged hookeye shrimp with a length of about 5 cm. There is also a huge single-celled polyps, up to 10 cm long, which is the largest single-celled organism in the world.

The deepest bony fish: a lionfish living in a trench

There are no sperm whales, no giant sharks, no king squids at 10,000 meters under the sea, and there are only these small alien creatures. In the public's understanding, diving refers to the diving of animals on the sea, while those that have been living in the deep sea are not counted. From this perspective, no creature can dive to the bottom of the ocean at a depth of 10,000 meters.