An astonishing variety of deep sea marine species -- over 17,650 below 640 feet and 5,722 living two-thirds of a mile and deeper -- have been inventoried as part of a historic effort to create a global Census of Marine Life to be released next year.

At those depths there is no sunlight, little heat and intense pressure. The species that live there have evolved to survive on a surprising foods, including the meager droppings from the sunlight waters above them, the bones of dead whales that sink to the bottom and oil, sulfur an methane bubbling up from the Earth’s crust. Videos of some of these creatures are available (through the link below).

Of the Census’ 14 field projects, five are focused on these dark depths. The scientists use deep-towed cameras, sonar and other new technologies to catalog these animals which have never seen the sun. By the end of the ten-year Census they will have fielded more than 210 expeditions to these largely unexplored areas.

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