The Unusual Ocean

Between four and seven miles deep, the ocean--where pressure is one ton per square centimeter--evokes both mystery and misunderstanding; accessing these depths is challenging to human exploration. Our fear of this dark unknown often conjures images of monsters of the deep, especially in the minds of children. Based on current scientific observations and studies, this book demonstrates that reality can be more fascinating than the wildest imagination all while traveling from the shore to the deepest of ocean trenches. Along the way it introduces children to twenty of the most unusual creatures to inhabit the oceans, including bone-eating worms, supergiant amphipods with expanding stomachs, snails made of iron, worms that eat chemicals and even hagfish who can suffocate on their own slime. This book will excite a new generation of ocean explorers who can take their piqued interest and become a much needed movement for deep ocean stewardship.