Deep Sea Exhibit at the Natural History Museum – Bizarre creatures from the deep (with a face only a mother could love)

Procrastination is something I do best. This is why I have left visiting ‘The Deep Sea’ exhibit to the very last minute, as viewing weird and wonderful bottled specimens is right up my science nerd alley. This exhibit is only on until September 5th, which is a shame because the fascinating specimens and interesting facts really should be a permanent part of the museum. Here are a few titbits of deep sea knowledge I picked up at this exhibition.

Fact 1:

The deepest part of the ocean is the Mariana Trench in the Pacific, which reaches a depth of 11,000 meters and is deep enough to submerge Mount Everest.

Fact 2: 

In the Twilight Zone (not the Rod Serling series, but the part of the sea that ranges between 200-1,000 meters deep) many of the marine animals have lights on their underside. This “counterillumination” is a method of camouflage. Light produced on the underside of bioluminescing animals helps them disappear from predators below. And because the top part of the animal is not lit, they are camouflaged from the prey above, as its dark silhouette appears against a black background.

Fact 3 (the one I will keep with me forever and probably share with people after a few drinks at the pub):

The warty anglerfish (quite possibly the ugliest fish to exist - hence why it was used in all the promotional material for this event) is a deep sea fish where the male is smaller than the female. The male fish uses his enlarged nostrils to sniff out a doomed female, where he then attaches himself to her and becomes parasitic, depending on her entirely for food and transport. Sounds like a few men I’ve known...

The Deep Sea Exhibit at the Natural History Museum (May 28 - Sept 5, 2010)
Cromwell Rd., London SW7 5BD
www.nhm.ac.uk