There are many animals which live at extreme depths. How do they survive with no light down there? Are there any plants? If so, how? And most importantly: how are they not crushed by the extreme pressure? They must be babies at some point
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The only problem with pressure is when there is a differential between two spaces. For example, when you blow up a balloon you’re creating a differential from the inside and outside, making the balloon vulnerable to rupture. Human beings evolved to exist in a pressurized environment. Atmospheric pressure at sea level is about 14.7 psi. There’s nearly 15 pounds of force pressing in on every square inch of your body. The reason this isn’t a problem is because your internal pressure is equal to the external pressure. This is why when humans go into a low pressure space like in space, the internal pressure of their body is much higher than the external pressure, causing them to rupture. The same thing actually happens to deep-water animals if they are brought to a lower pressure environment like the shallows or above the surface. The classic example is the blobfish. It looks like a normal fish in its natural deep water environment. It’s internal pressure is very high to balance the pressure of deep water, and when brought up out of that it ruptures and bloats and turns into the thing we are all familiar with.
Now some species have the kind of body structure that allows them to deal with changing external pressures safely. Most crustaceans are essentially pressure vessels and can handle high and low external pressures. The large cetaceans like sperm whales are also physiologically evolved to handle it well, in part because of very strong hearts that can raise their internal pressure to help counteract the high pressure from the environment when they deep dive. Their young don’t really dive deep until they’re older, as they have to grow into the ability to have the lung capacity and heart strength to do it.
To quote an expert on chaos theory, “Life… finds a way.” Nature hates a vacuum and is exceedingly good at adapting creatures to survive in all kinds of environments. Whether it’s freezing temperatures, crushing pressure of the oceans depths, or even extreme heat in thermal vents (thermal vent tube worms, who not only survive crazy temperatures, but do so with out a digestive track as we know it)
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