While Xiang Yang was marveling at the advanced technology of today, he was also grateful that he had obtained the mysterious jade shell.
If it weren't for the mysterious jade shells, he would have no advantage over ordinary fishermen, and would be far inferior to those fishing boats that have introduced high-tech.
Xiang Yang followed Director Li Bo and swam down for more than ten meters with the intention of enjoying the scenery.
At this time, the three of them passed by a protruding reef, and Xiang Yang could finally see the scenery below that had been blocked by the reef before.
Xiang Yang saw patches of white rocks with many honeycomb-like holes on them, and countless mist-like water jets spurted out of the holes.
Various beautiful coral reefs grow at the bottom of this trench, countless tropical fish swim among the coral reefs, and there are large patches of kelp growing upwards, which look like a green grassland at first glance.
"Dry-skinned turtle!" Xiang Yang almost shouted out loud. He saw a dry-skinned turtle with a carapace length of more than one meter in a patch of kelp below. It had just caught a jellyfish and was chewing it in big mouthfuls. After chewing it for a few times, it swallowed it in one gulp. Then it took a bite of the kelp floating around its body, chewed it for a few more times, and swallowed it again. It looked like a leisurely lord.
Xiang Yang didn't know how to remind Professor Chen Yu and the others to go in that direction, so he could only say, "Teacher, Director Li, are we just going to keep diving like this?"
"No, we may have to go up soon." Professor Chen Yu said in a serious tone, "I just noticed that rock. The geological structure of this sea area is very unstable. I suspect that this trench was formed by a large-scale volcanic eruption, when a large amount of water vapor was ejected from the crust and then the crust collapsed."
Xiang Yang asked suspiciously: "Teacher, are you saying that this is an active volcano?"
"It's a bit too early to define whether this is an active volcano or not, but I boldly guess that this was once a volcano. This gully is the crater. There should be hot springs under the crater. This is the only way to explain why there are so many jellyfish that like to live in warm waters here." Professor Chen Yu said.
Xiang Yang joked: "If the volcano erupts later, it will be a disaster."
Upon hearing this, Professor Chen Yu and Supervisor Li both laughed. Wouldn’t it be a huge disaster if a volcano really erupted
The power of a volcanic eruption is no joke. It is a super natural disaster comparable to earthquakes and landslides, especially on the seabed. If a volcano erupts, all creatures within many miles will die, from ocean overlords like giant squids and blue whales to the lowest-level producers like plankton and impetuosity. They all appear equally weak when facing natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions.
Of course, whether it is Xiang Yang, Professor Chen Yu, or Director Li Bo, they all know that it is impossible for a volcano to erupt at this moment. There are so many marine creatures living under this sea, as well as countless marine plants and abundant plankton. It is easy to imagine that there must have been no volcanic eruption for a very long time.
If by some unfortunate coincidence they happen to encounter a volcanic eruption at this time, then there is nothing more to say. They should go back and buy 20 welfare lottery tickets first. At least the chance of winning the welfare lottery jackpot is much higher than this.
Especially in sea areas like this where there are a large number of warm-loving marine creatures, it is obvious at a glance that there are underwater hot springs, which means that the volcano is releasing its energy all the time, and its accumulated energy will only become less and less, which is not enough to cause a second eruption.
"Xiang Yang, thank you very much for your call. Even if we can't find the leatherback turtle this time, we will definitely make a fortune. This submarine trench is of great research value to our study of how the ocean was formed." Director Li Bo said.
Xiang Yang expressed his doubts, "Hasn't the formation of the ocean been determined long ago?"
When the Earth was first formed about 4.6 billion years ago, the geological structure was very unstable. Water and gas inside the Earth rushed out of the crust, but due to the force of gravity they could not escape from the Earth, so a layer of water vapor formed around the Earth. That was the most primitive atmosphere and also the earliest ocean.
That’s right, the earliest ocean was in the sky.
Another 500 million years later, large-scale volcanic eruptions frequently occurred on Earth. At this time, the temperature of the Earth's surface gradually cooled down, and the temperature of the atmosphere also dropped accordingly. At this time, the water vapor in the atmosphere slowly condensed into water droplets and gathered to form rain.
That heavy rain lasted for millions of years before it finally formed a real sea. This is a point of knowledge that Xiang Yang learned when he was in school.
"That's just a bold scientific guess. How the ocean was formed still needs a lot of scientific verification to be truly confirmed." Chen Yu was halfway through his words when he suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, that looks like an anglerfish?"
"Monkfish? Where is it?" Xiang Yang also asked hurriedly.
If it is really an anglerfish, then this trench may not be as simple as what Xiang Yang saw. There may be more trenches under the trench, because anglerfish are deep-water fish that live at the very deep bottom of the sea.
The sea water within two hundred meters is a light-transmitting zone. Although it has the largest biological population, there are almost no luminous marine organisms.
The ocean between 200 and 900 meters deep belongs to the twilight zone, where a large number of luminous marine fish live. Xiang Yang is more inclined to believe that Professor Chen made a mistake and mistook other luminous marine fish for anglerfish.
Soon, Xiang Yang saw a strange fish with a fat body, a big round head, and a mouth that was wider than its head when it opened.
The strange fish had a mouth full of sharp teeth, which were like fish bones, each of which was only as thick as a chopstick but as long as a chopstick. Its body was very similar to that of a sirloin, also without scales and extremely ugly. On its head, there was a long fin extending from its back like a fishing rod, and at the top of the fin there was a lantern like a bait, and the light flickered.
Xiang Yang's expression changed, "It's really monkfish."
To be honest, Xiang Yang and his companions are not afraid of sharks when wearing this diving suit, but they can't afford to offend anglerfish.
Because anglerfish live deep in the sea where there are relatively few prey, they are particularly ferocious and difficult to deal with. Once they find their prey, they will pursue it relentlessly and will never let it escape. The stomach of anglerfish is extremely strange, like a snake. They can even swallow food larger than their own body. A biologist once found undigested shark skeletons in the stomach of an anglerfish when dissecting it. This hideous-looking marine fish is ferocious in its bones, and even sharks are on its menu.
"Did you see it clearly? Is it really an anglerfish?" Director Li Bo was a little scared. If it was really an anglerfish, he had no confidence that the diving suit he was wearing, which was said to be able to protect against shark bites, could protect against the bites of the anglerfish's teeth that were nearly ten centimeters long.