A few animals have made the deepest depths of the ocean their natural habitat, which means they evolved to withstand enormous pressure. We only get to see these animals by remote camera, unless you happen to be James Cameron. But now Océanopolis, an aquarium in Brest, France, has developed a special aquarium that maintains high pressure for those animals, and lets us take a look.
Most creatures of the deep can survive only a few hours at sea level (the drop in pressure messes up cell-to-cell communication and causes paralysis), and any decompression can be fatal. But AbyssBox inventor Bruce Shillito, a biophysicist at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, has devised a new tool that will allow sea animals to be captured, brought to the surface, and transferred into an AbyssBox, all at a constant pressure. So you might be able to make eye contact with the deep-sea anglerfish before Cameron names himself king of the underworld.
Right now the AbyssBox has a few deep-sea shrimps and crabs inside its 4.25 gallon display unit. Link -via Not Exactly Rocket Science
(Image credit: Vincent Fournier)
FREAKIN' GROOVY!
And a few shrimp and crabs are about all you can reasonably expect to keep in a 4g tank....