What is the best place to find aliens? Space? The answer may surprise you — While the vastness of space and its countless extraterrestrial bodies have long captivated our attention, there is another realm right here on Earth where alien life could potentially be hiding: the ocean.
For a vast time, it was believed that life within the ocean depths was out of the question. Yet, despite accounting for over two-thirds of our planet’s surface, more is known about the surface of Mars than the bottom of the ocean. So why have we been overlooking the potential for alien life down there?
Recent discoveries descending into the depths of the ocean have revealed that it’s home to some of the most supernatural and bizarre-looking creatures imaginable. From the ghostly goblin shark, with its rather distinctive protruding mouth, the gelatinous blob sculpin, unanimously voted as the “ugliest looking animal”, or even the giant siphonophore, which some say resemble silly string; the ocean depths are swarmed with life forms that challenge our understanding of biology.
Moreover, it’s not simply these creatures’ strange appearances that make the ocean feel otherworldly. They also live in extreme environments found within the deep, such as the areas of crushing pressure in the Mariana Trench, or the hydrothermal vents formed along the mid-ocean ridges, Which begs the question, if these organisms have adapted to survive in conditions otherwise lethal to most other forms of life, what makes them different from ‘aliens’ who are speculated to exist on other planets with potentially harsher conditions?
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