Of all the diverse biomes on earth, it happens to be the largest one on
the planet that we know the least about. The ocean, to this day, remains mostly unexplored
and a massive amount of the life that it’s holding is likely still undocumented. And,
according to some theories, calculations, myths, and legends, some of those undocumented creatures,
roaming the darkest depths of the sea, could well be enormous.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question;
Are there undiscovered giants at the bottom of the ocean?
Do you need the big questions answered? Are you constantly curious? Then why not subscribe to
Unveiled for more clips like this one? And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
Intuitively, perhaps it would seem like the farther down in the ocean you live, the
smaller and sturdier your body would have to be to survive the intense pressures. But, really, that
isn’t how it works. In fact, water pressure for the creatures that live in Earth’s very deepest
abysses is almost negligible… since many of those creatures are mostly made of water themselves. As
such, we know (even at a basic level) that water does enable larger bodies. On land it’s very hard
to be a giant because gravity is constantly weighing every part of the body down. The
dinosaurs managed up until 66 million years ago thanks to a unique physical combination including
hollow bones and longer necks. But we don’t have anything close to the land-lugging mega-lizards
of old, today. And, actually, it’s much easier to be massive within water - just ask the blue whale!
More broadly, we speak of “deep-sea gigantism” when contemplating the
very largest things that the ocean has to offer. And there are two main principles
which might help explain it - Kleiber’s law and Bergmann’s law. The first, Kleiber’s law,
states that larger animals are actually more efficient eaters relative to body size.
This means that an animal that’s ten times larger than another, for example,
doesn’t have to eat an equivalent ten times more food to survive. Meanwhile, the second,
Bergmann’s law, states that colder environments generally breed larger bodies than hotter ones.
And both circumstances apply particularly to ocean living. In an environment so vast,
it pays to be efficient with the food you take in… and, obviously, it is very cold down there.
Deep-Sea Gigantism has been recognized since as early as the 1800s when the naturalist
Henry Nottidge Moseley wrote about giant sea spiders and giant ostracods, or seed shrimps,
after sailing onboard an expedition that had observed them. Since then,
a number of different animals have been found to grow to extreme lengths underwater. For example,
almost 20 different species of giant isopod have been found on the seafloor,
and these can grow ten times larger than their regular counterparts. There’s also
the Big Red Jellyfish, the twelve-feet-plus Japanese Spider-Crab, the deepwater stingray,
giant squid, and even a seven-armed octopus. All indications are, though, that there are likely
many more giant animals (and structures) still hiding in the depths, undiscovered.
The problem is that deep-sea giants, despite their size, are very hard to actually find. Naturally,
they spend most of their lives in the deeper layers of the ocean… but also
they rarely (if ever) come up to the surface, which makes studying them difficult. In fact,
a contender for the longest animal ever discovered was only found as recently as 2020. The creature,
called a siphonophore, is actually a stringy colony of smaller organisms called zooids that,
in this instance, grew to an astounding 150 feet (or 45 meters) long. In the modern world, then,
it’s clear that we’re still uncovering giants of the deep… and will seemingly continue doing
so into the future. Evidently, it’s not easy to locate these animals, no matter their size,
although scientists can predict some giant species that are more likely to
be discovered… including invertebrates like jellyfish, more species of siphonophores,
and curiously beaked whales, all of which continue to be found at a consistent rate.
For some, though, it’s possible that various other (and even more exciting)
creatures - like the mythical monsters in ancient stories - could also, potentially
be real. The hunt for them has previously been compared to that for the giant squid,
which itself was only first realized thanks to squid carcasses washing up on shore - rather than
human capture or detection. It’s tricky, though, as an even bigger monster (like the kraken,
for example) would likely never cross our paths. Consider that a massive predator such as this
might mainly hide beneath the ice caps or among the deepest subsurface volcanoes…
and there’s no sight or sign detectable. To modern minds, the suggestion that such
creatures could be real might seem a stretch… but there are many accounts of sea monsters
recorded by ancient sailors. Some of which have since been explained away, but some haven’t. So
we might still entertain the idea that in some cases they actually did see something. After all,
scientists estimate that there could be upwards of 8 million species alive worldwide, but also that
we’ve only discovered around 20% of them. Are the sea giants of legend among that other 80?
Not all ocean giants are alive and biological, however. A vast number of mysterious monuments
dot the dark and murky seafloor, too. Here, what’s key is that sea levels have risen and
fallen throughout history, leading some areas that were once “on land” to now be swimming underwater.
And, after the last ice age, ice cap melt brought the water levels up significantly. This means that
there really are underwater cities and artifacts of past cultures hidden on Earth. For example,
the mysterious Cuban Underwater Formation, a structure found close to Cuba at a depth of
2,000 to 2,460 feet (or up to 750 meters). These massive ruins appear to be an ancient city. Sonar
images show them to continue for over a mile… and there are certain formations, too, like
apparent buildings and potentially even pyramids. Unfortunately, the site hasn’t been thoroughly
visited yet to discover more about it due to the inherent difficulty in getting there. But, could
this also mean that there are other underwater cities (or part-cities) that have yet to be found,
perhaps all over the world map? Of course, the most famous of these potential sites is Atlantis.
According to Greek legend, Atlantis was an advanced city of people that became buried
in the ocean. And although it’s likely a myth - or an allegorical fable to warn against the dangers
of pride, greed and arrogance - researchers uncovered in 2022 what looks to be a brick
road in the Pacific Ocean. That road has been theorized to be made up of volcanic glass,
but has also been widely dubbed the “road to Atlantis” - and so, the legend lives on. While,
elsewhere, there are some important ancient Egyptian cities that may have been lost
underwater, too. And it’s not as though there isn’t precedent for “believing” in these places
only for them to materialize, thanks to real world science and exploration.
Consider the sunken city of Thonis-Heracleion in the Mediterranean Sea; it was thought to be
only legend before it was found for real, in the year 2000. In Egyptian history,
there’s the royal lost city of Itjtawy and one of the first capitals of the ancient empire, Thinis,
that are both lost to time… but, as even their original locations aren’t known for sure, could
potentially have been sunken. Will we one day come to know the truth behind those places, as well?
But, finally, the distinction between man-made monuments and naturally formed ones
can often be hard to see. The Yonaguni monument in Japan, for instance,
was first thought to be artificial because of its sharp edges and straight columns, but is now
widely held to be a natural result of erosion. And so, there’s also a number of giant, natural
structures that are still being discovered. In today’s era, according to some measures,
the largest mountain on the planet actually isn’t Everest, but instead is the dormant volcano Mauna
Kea, in Hawaii… when taken from the ocean floor to its topmost point. Structures like these are the
result of various underwater processes, especially tectonic plate movement. And, really, seamounts,
or extinct volcanoes submerged underwater, are all across the ocean… with researchers estimating
that there could be hundreds of thousands of them scattered about the deep sea,
many of which remain undiscovered. There are even structures called megamullions that are
especially long ridges with smooth domes that form only in very specific regions of the seafloor…
and the Godzilla Megamullion is the largest in the world, spanning some 78 miles along the bottom of
the ocean. Perhaps the only disappointment is that the real Godzilla has yet to be found.
But still, according to one late-2000s study, new giant sea creatures have been discovered
at a rate of at least one per year since the mid-1800s. So, if that rate continues,
Godzilla could be coming. Or the Kraken. Or the Loch Ness Monster. Or any of the others.
At the very least, you can watch this space for more cities and structures emerging from
the deep. Because that’s how there could be undiscovered giants at the bottom of the ocean.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these other
clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.