Sunlight zone · 50 m
Green sea turtle
Its family has crossed these waters for over a hundred million years. Resting, it can stay under for hours, then rise, unhurried, for a single breath.
A vertical journey · eleven kilometres
THE DESCENT
From the sunlit surface to the floor of the deepest trench. Scroll, and the ocean closes over you.
200 mThe Twilight Zone
Sunlight is down to one percent of the surface. This is the last blue.
1,000 mThe Midnight Zone
No sunlight reaches this far. Whatever glows here, glows for a reason.
4,000 mThe Abyss
Two degrees above freezing, with four hundred atmospheres pressing in.
6,000 mThe Hadal Zone
Named for Hades. The trenches, where the ocean floor falls away.
Sunlight zone · 100 m
Bluefin tuna
Warm-blooded and never still: a tuna must keep swimming to breathe. It can burst past 60 km/h, and dive into water barely above freezing.
Twilight zone · 600 m
Crown jellyfish
Red is invisible here, because no red light ever reaches this depth. Under attack it spins a ring of blue light around its bell, a burglar alarm for bigger predators.
Twilight zone · 900 m
Giant squid
Up to thirteen metres long, with eyes as wide as dinner plates, thought to have evolved to catch the faint glow of a sperm whale drawing near.
Midnight zone · 1,000 m
Lanternfish
Each species wears its own pattern of lights. By night, billions rise toward the surface to feed, then sink again by dawn: the largest migration on Earth.
Midnight zone · 2,000 m
Deep-sea anglerfish
The lure is a lantern of glowing bacteria. In some species the tiny male bites onto the female and fuses with her for life.
Midnight zone · 3,000 m
Gulper eel
A mouth larger than the rest of its body. The whip-thin tail ends in a small light that flickers pink, drawing prey toward the jaws.
The Abyss · 4,000 m
Tripod fish
It stands on three stilt-like fin rays, facing into the current with its feelers raised, waiting for food to drift into its mouth.
Hadal zone · 8,000 m
Hadal snailfish
The deepest fish ever filmed swam at 8,336 metres. Below about 8,200, the chemistry of a fish's cells gives out, and the amphipods take over.
10,935 m · Challenger Deep
You are at the bottom.
Eleven kilometres of ocean rest above you, and it is very quiet.