Just a Snippet

In one of my latest posts, 'Hope', I spoke briefly about the seas and oceans and my experience with the world under the waves before making use of the analogy offered by the aquatic realm. Truly, I have had some amazing experiences whilst swimming and snorkelling and perhaps nothing quite matches the physical freedom and awe-inspiring wonder of life beneath. Well, guess what? Today, June 8th, is Ocean Day! ... Sound a bit daft? Maybe, but stay with me.

Trawling the web I came across a trailer for a movie which apparently is not showing in my area or with 200 miles of my area. That's a shame, because the movie is an 83 minute documentary entitled 'Deep Blue'. It looks good. I post a link for your enjoyment, and because I think it's a nice little picture of that which I talk about here and in my other post. It also brings to mind a thought that has occurred to me a number of times.

"Eighty percent of life on earth...lives in the ocean" the trailer proclaims. David Helvarg of Blue Frontier adds,

"We've mapped less than 5 percent of our oceans with the accuracy we've achieved in mapping 100 percent of the moon. We're only now discovering and exploring previously unknown ecosystems, such as deep-ocean coral forests, hydrothermal vent communities, and the craggy slopes of submarine mountains. Yet the oceans contain more than 80 percent of all species and 95 percent of all livable habitat."
Link

Put more lightly DiscoverySchool.com offers the following statements:

"The ocean is immense: The ocean's surface area is larger than all the continents combined, and it has deeper canyons and taller mountains than anywhere on land.

The ocean is alive: The ocean is the source of life on earth and it remains one of the most diverse ecosystems. There are over 1 million known species of plants and animals living in the ocean. Since much of the ocean is still unexplored, scientists feel there may be as many as 9 million undiscovered species.

Gimme Energy: Life in the ocean, as on land, depends on the transfer of energy from one living creature to another. This transfer of energy takes place when an animal eats another animal or plant. All organisms in the ocean are interconnected either through a simple food chain or a more complex food web."

The seas and oceans remain a vast and largely unexplored realm of this planet. Full of life and wonders it is captivating and mysterious. In my time studying sharks I came across examples of very large fish (Megamouth) that had either escaped notice until very recently, or only one gender of specimens have been found. This BBC report highlights the existance yet mystery of the Colossal Squid. Yup, not the Giant Squid, the Colossal Squid, different and much bigger.

When I think about such things living, continuing their existence deep beneath the waves and we remain largely unaware of their presence, and I consider the potential benefits in health, physics, and who-knows-what-else discoveries, I wonder why so much money is poured into space exploration and bringing rocks back from dead planets in the hope of finding life, yet the full and living seas, right on our own rock, are left alone.

Truly this globe is a marvelous place. One day I hope to sail upon its waves in an old tall-ship, but everyday, I consider the greatness of the One who put it together - however you feel He accomplished it. "How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean." Arthur C. Clarke Link and what we know of those oceans is just a snippet.