- People either hate the ocean, or they love it.
The ocean is vast, mainly unexplored, and a bit of a mystery to us all. Here are some ocean fun facts you never knew, you never knew.
The Ocean Glows
Or at least, the ocean can glow. It can look like sparkling stars, and it’s all from tiny marine organisms that live in the ocean. A chemical reaction produces light in the organism’s body that creates light energy. This show of nature is clearly one of the best ocean fun facts. Because the ocean may be dark, but these small organisms light up the water with their chemical superpowers.
Home of the “World’s First Animals”
We all think of dinosaurs when we think of animals that were alive “way back then.” (PS I have a theory that there are still ocean dinosaurs at the bottom of the ocean, which we track barely any of, because they have never been disturbed or killed off.. anyhow.) Sea sponges are older than dinosaurs, making them the world’s first animals. The sponges have been on earth for nearly 640 million years, trumping dinosaurs. Because sea sponges are not plants, but multicellular living organisms, they come in a variety of sizes and colors. Their skin is similar to a kitchen sponge with pores to filter in water for food and oxygen.
There are a lot of Sharks
There are well over 500 different species of sharks in the ocean. Because of this, they aren’t all the big. menacing and scary “Jaws” sharks that we think of. They come in all shapes and sizes, like sponges, and also different colors. The reason there are so many sharks and we keep discovering new ones is that the majority of sharks are deep-sea sharks. This means that they can live up to thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean.
Tsunami Waves are Big
They can be up to 100 feet tall. Now, that’s a lot of water. A sequence of ocean waves create by either an underwater earthquake, a landslide or a volcanic eruption ultimately cause tsunamis. About 80% of tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire.” This string of underwater volcanoes and earthquake sites along the Pacific Ocean is the area known as the “Ring of Fire.” Because waves can get so tall and are so string, they are known as killer waves. This is a scary ocean fun fact.
Jellyfish are Big, Too
Did you know that some jellyfish are big? Like, really, really big? Some are bigger than a full-sized basketball court. Wow. These underwater creatures are pretty cool, but that is way too big for a jellyfish. Eek. There are over 200 different species of them and they are cool to look at, but it pretty much stops at that. The biggest jellyfish ever recorded is the lion’s mane jellyfish, which can frow to about 120 feet long with 1,200 tentacles. That’s a lot of tentacles and they can sting. They use these tentacles to capture and pull in their prey.
The Rockall in the Middle of the Ocean
There’s a 30-meter-wide Rockall, in the middle of the ocean. Less than 20 people have ever stood on it. It’s in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, protruding up, about 290 miles off the coast of Great Britain. Crazy as it sounds, less than 20 people have stood on the rock, but it makes sense when you learn more about it. The ledge to stand on the rock is very small, about the size of a single bed. And on top of that, trying to visit the rock is made difficult by the lack of space to stand on, much less walk around. Add in the water and winds, and most people don’t even want to attempt it.
The jellyfish ocean fun fact though! Want more? Click on Ocean Fun Facts That Will Blow Your Mind: Part Two, for more ocean fun facts.
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