Xiang Yang swam towards the muddy sea area. Here he was almost at the bottom of the submarine slope, and the sea water was more than a hundred meters deep.
In this muddy land, Xiang Yang could hardly see any other marine life except some scallops and clam shells.
It’s not that there are fewer marine animals under the ocean at this depth. Even under the ocean ten thousand meters deep, there are still many marine creatures living.
In the process of human exploration of the ocean, some people have explored the deep sea of 10,911 meters. At such a deep sea, the entire seabed is pitch black, and the average water temperature is only 2 degrees Celsius. However, the water temperature of some seabeds heated by crustal movement is as high as 380 degrees Celsius. In such an extreme environment, there are still marine life that survive. Those strange creatures are not only heat-resistant, but also pressure-resistant.
After precise calculations, scientists have concluded that the enormous water pressure at the bottom of the sea ten thousand meters deep can instantly crush the human body into a meat patty. These have exerted a strong attraction on scientists, and human exploration of the ocean has never stopped.
The reason why there are so few marine animals in this sea area is because the bottom of the sea is too barren. The seabed is covered with silt and even aquatic plants are very scarce.
"Hey, wait."
As Xiang Yang was floating above the mud-covered sea and looking around, he suddenly saw a lush green in one direction.
Xiang Yang was puzzled, "Could it be an underwater jungle?"
When talking about the ocean, people usually first think of those lively and cute or ferocious marine animals, while when it comes to plants, they only think of corals.
Corals are not actually plants.
Marine plants, as an important part of the marine ecological environment, are the most indispensable in the entire marine ecosystem.
If there were no marine plants in the sea, the entire ocean would lose its vitality and beauty. Plants provide oxygen to animals, and animals provide nutrients to plants. Together they constitute the entire marine biosphere, and the two are interdependent.
Xiang Yang swam towards the lush green sea.
The first thing that caught Xiang Yang's eye was a kind of small algae that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Algae itself is the most diverse marine plant in the ocean. Xiang Yang did not find it strange to see algae. The most common kelp and seaweed in our lives are all algae.
Algae can not only be made into a variety of nutritious foods, but can also be processed and refined into a variety of medical medicines for the treatment of various diseases.
Xiang Yang slowed down and swam cautiously above the algae.
This algae looks very strange, a bit like a leaf-like plant with very small leaves, and its appearance is a bit similar to vines on land.
"This should be a benthic algae." Xiang Yang looked up silently. It was pitch black above him, and there was a faint blue light at an unknown distance. He suddenly felt it was very magical. Under such a deep ocean, plants had almost no way to carry out photosynthesis, but these algae grew just like that, and they grew lushly.
However, Xiang Yang knew that water had a strong ability to absorb light, and seawater easily absorbed long-wave light. Although the spectra of different water layers would vary greatly with the depth of the water, overall, even in the deep sea where light could not reach, algae could generally carry out photosynthesis.
After taking a look under the sea, Xiang Yang discovered a crab with tiny spikes all over its back shell.
But Xiang Yang was too lazy to catch these crabs.
These crabs swim very fast at the bottom of the water. How can they be easily caught by using clams that hardly move
And those clam shells are more expensive than these crabs.
Xiang Yang searched carefully in the seaweed for a while and then prepared to return to the mud.
Just then Xiang Yang's eyes narrowed and he saw a group of huge monsters.
The group of huge creatures were hiding at the bottom of the sea, under the cover of the lush seaweed.
The group of creatures that Xiang Yang observed carefully were about 3 meters long, with fine and short hair on their bodies, no backs and no necks. Their very bloated bodies had a head directly in the front. They looked very round and cute, and their whole bodies were round without any distinct angular parts.
Xiang Yang was observing them, and they were also observing Xiang Yang.
Although they have no necks, their heads can move. They were lying in the seaweed, quietly turning their heads to observe Xiang Yang.
"It's actually a dugong." Xiang Yang was amazed. The dugong is a close relative of the manatee, and it itself can be considered a type of manatee, a mammal similar to a whale.
Dugongs once lived on land and are said to have originated from the same ancestor as Asian elephants. About 25 million years ago, they came to the ocean and began to live.
Dugongs have a very wide distribution range and can be seen in various waters of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. They prefer warm waters and often cover themselves with lush seaweed. They are the only herbivorous mammals in the ocean.
There are five dugongs in total in the group before us, two big ones, one and a half big ones, and two small ones.
Xiang Yang tried to swim towards the group of dugongs. He wanted to take a closer look at them. Dugongs were more docile than dolphins, so he was not worried that he would be attacked if he swam over rashly.
Xiang Yang went there for a swim.
The group of dugongs immediately retreated and became very wary of Xiang Yang.
Xiang Yang stopped immediately. Dugongs are not only docile but also timid by nature. They will immediately run away if they are slightly frightened.
Speaking of escaping, Xiang Yang remembered a very interesting thing.
That is, dugongs, like whales, also love to sing.
In summer, dugongs often stay on the rocks near the coast and sing.
Sometimes fishermen on the beach are attracted by the dugong's singing and will run over to watch.
As a result, as soon as the fishermen approached, the timid dugongs would immediately run away, and the fishermen would usually only see a wave of water and no longer see the dugongs.
So in ancient times, some fishermen mistook the mysterious singing creature for a mermaid, the kind of mermaid with a human upper body and a fish lower body, and they spread the legend of the mermaid widely.
Xiang Yang stood still, and the dugongs that had retreated in panic calmed down a little, but they still looked at Xiang Yang vigilantly.
Xiang Yang guessed that they must have been frightened by him, because they had certainly never seen creatures like him on the seabed before.
Although Xiang Yang knew that if he really wanted to swim over, these dugongs would definitely not be able to swim faster than him, but seeing that these guys looked so scared, Xiang Yang did not plan to continue swimming forward.