Here are some crazy and funny facts about the oceans. 

The vast majority of life on Earth is aquatic

You probably already know that the ocean covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface. It makes sense that it would be home to a lot of lifeforms, but did you know that an incredible 94% of all of the planet’s living species exist in the oceans?

We actually don’t know that much about the ocean

It is because mankind has explored less than 5% of it. There’s so much of our ocean still waiting to be discovered and understood. In fact, we’ve got better maps of Mars than of the ocean.

It’s the world’s biggest museum

There are more historic artifacts under the sea than in all of the world’s museums combined. There are around 1,000 shipwrecks lie off the Florida Keys alone, with an estimated three million dotted around the globe.

The ocean is home to the world’s longest mountain chain

Earth’s longest chain of mountains, the Mid-Ocean Ridge, stretches for 40,390 miles – ten times longer than the Andes – and lies almost entirely beneath the ocean. Mankind has explored less of these mountains than the surface of Venus or the dark side of the Moon.

There are lakes and rivers within the ocean

Yep, you read that right. When saltwater and hydrogen sulfide combine, it becomes denser than the rest of the water around it, enabling it to form a lake or river that flows beneath the sea. This also explains how the world’s tallest waterfall – the Denmark Strait Cataract – is also in the ocean. The 11,500-foot underwater waterfall lies between Greenland and Iceland and dwarfs Angel Falls in Venezuela, which is just 3,200 feet.

Coral produces its own sunscreen

Coral depends on algae as a main source of sustenance, but too much sunlight can damage the algae that live inside coral in shallow water. To mitigate this, the corals fluoresce, creating proteins that act as a sort of sunscreen for the algae.

The world’s largest living structure lives in the ocean

While we’re on the subject of coral, the Great Barrier Reef – the world’s largest living structure – also calls the ocean home. Lying off the coast of Australia, the 133,000-square-mile reef is so huge it can be seen from outer space.

A single iceberg could supply a million people with drinking water for five years

An average large iceberg from Antarctica contains more than 20 billion gallons of water – enough to give one million people enough drinking water for five years. At one point a company from the United Arab Emirates launched plans to tow an iceberg to the UAE to mitigate the country’s serious risk of drought, but the project quietly disappeared.

Pressure at the depths of the ocean would crush you like a bug

In the Mariana Trench – the deepest point on the planet at 35,802 feet below the surface – the water pressure is eight tonnes per square inch. If you somehow made your way down there it would feel like you were carrying nearly 50 jumbo jets. Oh, and going back to the previous point that the ocean is widely unexplored – more people have been to the moon (12) than the Mariana Trench (three).

If all the ocean’s ice melted at once we’d be in serious trouble

We already know that rising sea levels are a massive risk to humanity, but if all of the glaciers and sheets of Arctic sea ice melted simultaneously, the sea level would rise an estimated 262 feet, which is about the height of a 26-story building – just a bit shorter than the Statue of Liberty.

There are more crazy and funny facts about the oceans. I hope you enjoyed the few I have listed here. 

I look forward to the next intallment.