the incredible secret world at the bottom of the sea (photos)

8/14/2019 The incredible secret world at the bottom of the sea (photos)

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a year-long mission, a BBC team probed a small part of the earth's amazing

dersea world. They completed 1000 dives and explored seven different

eans across the globe. What they found was extraordinary...

most of us, seas and oceans are featureless expanses. On a good day, the vastrfaces stretching endlessly towards the horizon provide a picturesque foil for a sunset.

t these glassy waters hide an extraordinary world.

arly sightings of a dugong, or sea cow, were probably responsible for the myth of the mermaids. But their

umbers are declining rapidly. The expedition headed to the Bazaruto archipelago, nine miles off the coastof Mozambique, to investigate the very last sustainable population of dugongs - which are related to

elephants - in the western Indian Ocean

fact, we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the deep oceanors, which is why a team of experts decided to probe a small part of the planet's seas,d film it for an eight-part TV series, to be shown on BBC2 next month.

aded by Paul Rose, ex-base commander of the British Antarctic Survey and divener to the US navy, the Oceans team includes maritime archaeologist Lucy Blue,

arine biologist and oceanographer Tooni Mahto, and conservationist Philippeusteau, grandson of the celebrated underwater pioneer Jacques.


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One of the team's divers observes a shoal of jacks circling with balletic precision. This behaviour is a

source of much debate, but is thought to be a defence mechanism against predators

er a year, they set up eight expeditions to seven different seas and oceans across thebe - spending more than 700 hours underwater, and completing 1,000 dives.

eir aim was to seek out the hidden secrets of our oceans and, ultimately, to betterderstand how much we rely on these enigmatic and alien places.


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giant manta ray, known to have the biggest brains of all fish, spotted off the south coast of Mozambique.

In the background lurks a shark

ur-fifths of all life on Earth is found beneath the waves, and scientists estimate alion new species are out there waiting to be discovered.

low the surface of the oceans there are mountains that would dwarf the Himalayas,terfalls bigger than Niagara and more active volcanoes than anywhere else on the


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net.

aul Rose explores the wreck of the Paraportiani, a cargo ship that sank off the coast of East Africa in 1967

e mid-ocean ridge, a chain of mountains that runs through all the great seas, is300 miles long, with an average height of 3,000 metres.

gether, the oceans make up an unimaginably vast environment wrapped around morean 70 per cent of the surface of the planet.


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espite the size of male sperm whales - which can reach up to 16 metres in length - sightings are rare. But

when you see one, it's worth the wait

s no surprise, then, that a new species was discovered by the team during almostery deepsea dive.

t there was more to find, including underwater caves that preserved the remains oft civilisations and wrecks that spoke of ancient battles.

a coral grows in abundance on the sheer, underwater cliffs of the reef at the island of Pemba, 50 miles offthe coast of East Africa and one of the three islands off Tanzania, along with Zanzibar and Mafia island


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ey saw rare and endangered creatures and dived in alien marine environments:ch-black waters turned purple by toxic bacteria, and eerie tannin-stained watersusing bizarre creatures.

ey even dived into a throng of sharks to test out a new repellent - and were relieved tod it worked.

Huge sunfish are indigenous to the Sea of Cortez, a strip between the Baja California peninsula and

mainland Mexico, 60-130 miles wide and 995 miles long. These giants can grow up to six metres long

fortunately, they also found found evidence of the changes wrought by mankind -rming seas destroying unique ecosystems and overfishing decimating entire species.

t there were also signs of hope: coral that harbour a special heat-resistant algae thatuld also protect the other reefs of the world, and marine creatures with amazinglities to adapt to their changing world.


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ne of the dive team had ever seen a weedy sea dragon, found only in kelp forests. But Philippe Cousteau

and Tooni Mahto struck lucky at Fortescue Bay, on the east coast of Tasmania

d, in the Arctic, they discovered a potentially new species of amphipod - a great find,these tiny creatures provide a crucial link in the entire Arctic Ocean food chain.

ere were numerous other highlights, including a rare encounter with a green-eyed

-gill shark, a dive alongside Seri Indians, and swimming in the presence of therifying Humboldt squid.

re, they exclusively share with us some of the amazing sights they found under thea.

xtracted from Oceans: Exploring The Hidden Depths Of The Underwater World by Paul

se and Anne Laking, BBC Books, 20. (c) Paul Rose and Anne Laking, 2008. To order

copy at 18 (p&p free), tel: 0845 155 0720. Oceans starts on BBC2 on 12 November.

the incredible secret world at the bottom of the sea (photos)

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