Summary

Journey Into the Deep

Discovering New Ocean Creatures
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Author Rebecca Johnson invites young readers to accompany her on an exciting voyage to the coral reefs and the darkest depths of the world’s oceans, where incredible new creatures are being discovered every day. Among them are new species of starfish, sea worms, sea cucumbers, lobsters, shrimp, jellyfish, sea urchins, mollusks, mussels, sponges and octopuses. Through the remarkable photos in Journey into the Deep, readers will come face to face with some extraordinary creatures … tripod fish, which spend most of their time standing on the seabed on their “tripod” fins while waiting for a meal to swim by … zombie worms that feast on the bones of dead whales … an octopus which turns itself inside out … fish whose eyeballs can turn inward (so that they see inside themselves) … methane ice worms, which make their home in methane gas which freezes as it bubbles out of the seabed … a fish with a transparent head … creatures which manufacture their own light in the eternal night of the ocean depths, and many more. From 2000 to 2010, more than two thousand researchers from 82 countries carried out the largest investigation of ocean life ever attempted, in a project known as the “Census of Marine Life”. An unbelievable number of new creatures were encountered – only a few could be featured in this book. The special vehicles which were used to explore the deep ocean trenches are also described for readers. How does it feel to view an animal that no one else has ever seen – or even an undiscovered species that as yet has no name? One scientist tells us that it is a thrilling and “humbling” experience. Author Rebecca Johnson is an avid scuba diver as well as the author of many science books for children and teens.