The deep sea holds many mysterious places and is home to many creatures. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute‘s deep ocean robot located the mysterious ‘garden of octopuses‘ at 10,500 feet (3,200 meters) deep! These 8-legged sea creatures seemed to thrive on a pitch-black underwater volcano. Let’s have a look at what more they have found.
This deep-sea colony of octopuses is in the dark marine region called the “midnight zone.” The steady temperature of this part of the ocean is around 4° Celsius (39° Fahrenheit). That is why octopuses seem to thrive in a hydrothermal vent that releases warm, chemical-rich fluids. The warm water vents from an extinct volcano in the sea so deep and dark.
The deep ocean has caught a high-resolution image. The area is located around 80 miles (128.7 kilometers) southwest of Monterey, California. The scenery itself looks something so fascinating and is straight out of a movie!
The images show a surprising amount of around 5,718 octopuses over a six-acre area. There are also around 4,707 female octopuses nesting their eggs deep down. The creatures who have habitats can withstand cold temperatures and extreme hydrostatic pressure of around 100 to 400 atmospheres.
“We think there may be 20,000 octopuses there. And the question is, well, why are they there? And why are they aggregating? It looks like the warm waters that are emanating from these springs is a key to why these animals are breeding there,” says a senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Jim Barry.
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