A quick Google search will tell you that the ocean covers approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface, spanning roughly 139 million square miles (around 361 square kilometers). And despite more than a hundred years of scientific study, there is still a lot we don’t know.
Among them are some creepy facts that will likely induce a bad case of Thalassophobia. Here are some examples, as shared by people on Reddit when the topic came up in a recent thread.
From “rogue waves” to “dark fish,” here are some of the most disturbing things shared in the discussion.
#1
We’ve discovered entire ecosystems can exist from thermal vents at super deep depths. Places where we assumed life was impossible and they’re basically isolated alien worlds which we have only had a glimpse of.
Image source: kingofjingling, Ekaterina Zlotnikova/unsplash
#2
90% of the ocean receives zero sunlight, ever. It’s 100% pitch darkness 100% of the time.
Image source: STQCACHM, Jonathan Cooper/unsplash
#3
We still don’t know how high waves can get.
Image source: Jack1715, Silas Baisch/unsplash
#4
Many of us have heard about rogue waves, but apparently there exists the complete opposite of that, a “rogue hole” which is when one is suddenly met with a gap between the ocean waves that yawns open and can dip down to possibly a 100 ft.
I don’t know why, but something tells me that if such a thing exists, it would be far more destructive and fatal compared to a rogue wave as it would seem impossible trying to maneuver out of literally being swallowed up by the ocean.
Edit: Here’s some survival stories of those who encountered this deadly phenomenon.
Johnny Savage and the Anhinga (1998): Fisherman Johnny Savage describes encountering a “hole in the ocean” during a 350-mile trip from Key West to Cancun. He described it as a sudden, massive void ahead of them, causing the boat to fall completely off into it. The 56-foot boat was destroyed instantly, forcing Savage and his captain, Eric Bingham, into the water within minutes without any time to make a distress call or grab safety gear.
The Rose-Noelle Crew (1989): Four sailors survived 118 days adrift off the coast of New Zealand after their trimaran was upturned by a massive, violent wave, leaving them in an inverted hull, which is a common outcome of such, a “hole” or trough-related incident.
“Pitchpoling” off the Golden Gate: A sailor reported a “rogue hole” event during a race outside the Golden Gate, describing a sailboat dropping into a deep trough near a seamount, effectively sailing “off a cliff” and almost turning end-over-end (pitchpoling).
Yachting World Account (1980s): A sailor described being on a vessel that was hit by a massive wave that caused the world to go black, as they were thrown into a trough so deep they were effectively trapped inside a “hole.” The wheel was ripped off, and the vessel was left severely damaged, but they survived. .
Image source: SkeletonMaze, NOAA
#5
Point Nemo. It’s not a an island, just a gps location in the South Pacific. If you go there the nearest human is on the ISS.
Image source: DepVanHalen, F**kReaperLeviathans/reddit
#6
Diel vertical migration (DVM) is the largest daily animal migration on Earth, involving trillions of marine organisms—including zooplankton, krill, squid, and fish—moving from the deep sea to the surface at night to feed and returning to the depths by dawn. This behavior helps creatures avoid visual predators during daylight, driven by light cycles.
Image source: chemical32
#7
The fact that we’ve explored more of the moon than the deep ocean will never not creep me out, especially knowing there are entire ecosystems down there we’ve barely even seen.
Image source: HousingInner9122, Guzmán Barquín/unsplash
#8
I watched one of the David Attenborough documentaries and there’s actually a super salty lake somewhere in the ocean. It’s surrounded by all these dead fish and sea creatures because the salinity is so high it kills any living thing that ventures in it.
Image source: Wingnut8888, NOAA-OER/BOEMRE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
#9
Its sheer size and mystery. For example, MH 370 went missing back in 2014 and people scanned Indian ocean with although uncertain, but still relatively small search area. And we are yet to find the main wreckage.
Image source: Kaggles_N533PA
#10
The largest sunken ships aren’t even a speck in their vastness.
The Pacific is larger than every continent COMBINED, and it’s surface area is greater than the surface area of Mars.
Image source: RhysOSD, Marc Snailum/unsplash
#11
As soon as you go into it, you are not the top of the food chain.
Image source: NetDork, Jesse van Vliet/unsplash
#12
At 1000 feet the ocean pressure will collapse human lungs. If somehow you can prevent that, the human body would be crushed at 20000 feet.
Image source: Ok_Recording81, Elion Jashari/unsplash
#13
A guy I talked to was a deep sea diver. It gets pitch black fairly quickly when you’re diving down. He said you get used to things bumping into you down there.
Image source: Jack-of-Hearts-7, Thant Aung/unsplash
#14
When you swim in the ocean you’re moving through a bacterial soup with millions of cells per teaspoon, a large proportion of which are actively dying microbes being lysed open by viruses.
Image source: lordofcatan10, Roberta Sant’Anna/unsplash
#15
I remember reading a thread someone was joking that physics got all the good stuff and biology never had anything spooky, as a joke they said ‘there’s dark energy but no dark birds’
Anyway someone responded that, apparently there’s evidence of a huge amount of fish. Like the ecology suggests this huge population and there’s sonar to support it but no-one has ever seen them.
Supposedly there’s ‘dark fish’.
Image source: misterjonathoncrouch
#16
A lot of folks think if you see a dolphin you’re safe from sharks, because they dislike each other. But it’s a myth. They feed on the same fish, so if one is in the area, the other is like to be as well.
Guess who saw a dolphin fin pop out of a wave next to them after learning this fun fact on the way to a morning surf?
Also, if you almost drown by getting whomped by an entire set of waves twice as big as anything you’ve been in the water for, and end up chilling on the beach to recover after being dragged across the bottom of the ocean in water well over your head, only knowing which way to fight towards the surface because of the tether pulling you straight into the next wave ready to throw a board a few feet too long right at your head, a sea lion might just come by and sit next to you, and it is way more frightening to be next to one of those than it sounds. Especially while sitting down, unsure of what happens if you try to get up and don’t have the energy to run.
Image source: Megabyte_Messiah, Jonas Von Werne/unsplash
#17
The average person who is proficient in swimming can only go 20-30 feet deep without gear.
And even with diving gear and experience- decompression sickness is no joke when it comes to deep-diving.
Image source: Successful-Shopping8, Kateryna Hliznitsova/unsplash
#18
Occasionally I look through the Internet if something new was discovered. Like that nightmare bigfin squid.
I love the ocean.
Image source: Deqind, anon/reddit
#19
There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky.
Image source: HeroProtagonist4, Giacomo Bianchi/unsplash
#20
There are unknown creatures there.
Image source: ClearEntertainer6737, OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP)
#21
A single litre of sea water contains in the region of 10-100 billion (yes billion) individual viruses.
Image source: wonkeyknees
#22
Im a dive instructor so i know a bit about the ocean. Of all things ocean, the only thing that I find extremely errie, is how phucking dark it is. The real wild ocean is so dark you cant even see your hand. If you fell off a cliff without a flashlight, if you fell off a massive cargo ship, or oil rig, you’re 100% dead. 0% chance of survival. If you had a chance, you have less than 10 minutes.
Image source: deliriousfoodie
#23
At the bottom of the Mariana Trench (Challenger Deep), the pressure is over 1,000 times greater than at sea level, equivalent to 155 times the pressure of a car tire.
Image source: ThePasswordIs654321
#24
The Pacific Ocean is huge.
– 4.5-5 moons could be lined up in order to equal its widest point
– it has an average depth of 4,000 meters; its deepest point can hide Mt Everest and still maintain this average depth because of the room to spare that would still tower over Everest’s peak
– about 20% of the Pacific Ocean’s total depth is beyond habitation for most animals, excluding certain crustaceans, starfish, etc but almost no fish (except for the Snailfish, which can live in the Mariana’s Trench)
– all seven continents could be hidden inside of its near-64 million square miles of surface area
– the Pacific Ocean’s ecosystems account for over 70% of marine life, and sources 47 million tons (58% of all fish caught) a year via its fisheries.
Image source: SL1Fun
#25
It’s a massive, and I mean massive, carbon sink.
And it’s getting full.
As someone who lives on land and breathes air, I can’t think of a single fact about the ocean that’s more terrifying.
Image source: Tutorbin76
#26
Ghost Ships: Vessels are occasionally found perfectly intact with no sign of crew, a phenomenon reported even in recent years.
Image source: MundanePause2983
#27
A massive, hidden reservoir of water three times the size of all surface oceans combined exists roughly 400 to 700 kilometers (250–400 miles) deep within Earth’s mantle.
Image source: Vimes-NW
#28
It’s the second least explored major geological feature.
Image source: reddituseronebillion
#29
The city of Thonis-Heracleion was discovered in 2000, after going missing for 1,200 years, having vanished overnight.
At the end of the last Ice Age, sea levels rose by about 120 metres. We have found thousands of human settlements. Rising sea levels is real. It has already happened and will continue to happen.
Image source: anon
#30
In Northern Queensland, there are several types of Cubozoa Jellyfish with deadly neurotoxins in their tentacles. They are all transparent, and several can paralyse your respiratory system within 5 minutes. One of the most lethal, the Irukandji, is not only transparent… it’s smaller than your thumbnail. You literally will not know what hit you.
Image source: dug99
#31
There are more Hydrogen atoms in a molecule of ocean water than there are stars in the solar system.
Image source: Other-Comfortable-64
#32
When a whale dies, it will (eventually) sink to the bottom of the ocean. Given the lack of nutrients >1000 m below the surface, these whale carcasses (known as “whale falls”) become their own little ecosystem sustaining life for decades at a time.
Image source: WorldlinessThat2984
#33
It’s 95% unexplored… which is ocean-speak for “probably haunted, probably angry, and definitely judging your floaties.”.
Image source: Itsme_Audreyy
#34
There are salt brine pool under the ocean. Highly toxic area that kills a lot of underwater creatures except for a few adapted species.
Image source: Harith_Pendragon_
#35
Fishing trawlers disappearing in OK weather that were possibly dragged down by submarines snagging their nets.
Image source: gdabull
#36
The ocean is so deep that most of it is a permanent “midnight zone” where the pressure would crush you like a soda can. There are underwater lakes with their own shorelines and toxic waves, and we have better maps of Mars than our own sea floor. We aren’t just exploring a planet; we’re haunting a graveyard of things that haven’t been discovered yet.
Image source: Cookiemaw
#37
There are parts of the Pacific Ocean which are antipodal to other parts of the Pacific Ocean.
In other words, if you were to drill a hole through the seafloor there, and travel all 12,742 kilometres through the Earth, you would end up… at the seafloor of the same ocean, on the literal opposite side of the globe.
Image source: britishmetric144
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