In this revised and extended edition of Species of the Deep, award-winning nature and science writer Erich Hoyt provides readers with a peek of the incredible variety of creatures that may be discovered in the ocean’s deepest reaches. Hoyt embarks on a magical journey across the abyssal plains and into deep-sea trenches more than 20,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, weaving together details from the most recent scientific research on sharks, giant squid, dragonfish, huge tube worms, clams, and tiny microbes of deep-sea vents.
From “killer” copepods to confrontations between a giant squid and sperm whales, Hoyt reveals the intricate web of predator-prey relationships that exist in a dark, high-pressure world. He also provides riveting images of species that are well adapted to their environments. There are living forms that are not dependent on sunlight or photosynthesis that thrive near the hot, sulfurous deep-sea vents in the spectacular rift valley of the mid-ocean ridge, which is the world’s longest mountain range and contains the world’s longest mountain range. These microbes, which have managed to survive in conditions that appear to be very close to the primordial soup of the Earth, have become the basis for the most recent research into the planet’s origins. The book is lavishly decorated with stunning underwater photography.
