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Recommended for: Grades 6-8

Resource: Deep-Sea Bestiary

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With names like umbrellamouth gulper, blackdevil anglerfish, ogrefish, football fish, and vampire squid from hell, you might expect to be surprised, even startled, by some of the creatures that inhabit that deepest parts of the ocean. You would be right to expect this. This document from the NOVA: "Into the Abyss" Web site describes the physical and behavioral traits of some of these bizarre and little-known sea creatures.

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Most people have become accustomed to the outlandish collection of adaptations found in land animals and common ocean creatures. The elephant's trunk and the shape of the hammerhead shark's head, for example, barely raise eyebrows. We've simply seen too many of the creatures -- in pictures, on television, or in person -- to be very surprised by them.

However, many creatures that call the deep sea home live at such depths -- thousands of feet below the surface in some cases -- that they were unknown even to scientists just a few decades ago. Pair that newness with the fact that extreme conditions -- including crushing pressure, perpetual darkness, and unimaginable predators and competitors -- drive extreme adaptation, and you've got yourself a collection of creatures whose appearance will make your hair stand on end.

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Resource: Deep-Sea Bestiary

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Source: NOVA: "Into the Abyss" Web site

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