Largest Sea Creatures

The ocean is an amazing place. We’ve talked before about how deep the ocean is, but never explored how some of the planet’s largest sea creatures find refuge in the depths below.

However, there are conflicting reports on the largest sea creatures. “Precise, accurate, and quantified measurements matter at both a philosophical and pragmatic level,” said Craig McClain, assistant director of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, North Carolina. “Saying something is approximately ‘this big’ while holding your arms out won’t cut it, nor will inflating how large some of these animals are.”

In the past, researchers studied well-known giants like the whale shark, mola-mola, and the walrus and others. But opinions still varied on the size of the largest sea creatures. For example, some reports count the Japnese Spider Crab, a crustacean that can grow up to a terrifying 12 feet, while others do not.

A comprehensive study published in 2015 attempted to answer a pressing question. What are the greatest sizes that the largest marine megafauna obtain? In layman’s terms: what are the largest sea creatures? It turns out, that is a complicated question to answer.

The comprehensive survey used past studies and verifiable documentation to determine the accurate size of a range of marine animals. This included everything from crabs to whales. Researchers found that many alleged record sizes were significantly larger than anything that could be scientifically validated.

The study breaks down the size by specific categories, so we learn that the largest testudine is the Leatherback Sea Turtle, and that third Largest pinniped is the walrus, and the largest batoidean is the giant ocean Manta Ray.

The researchers released the overarching scientific discussion on size in the ocean. However, we laymen wanted to see some of the largest sea creatures for ourselves. The video below is NOT remotely scientific. One of the video entries is photoshopped. But, it’s still fun to watch.

Enjoy!

How Deep is the Ocean?

Just how deep is the ocean?
Deep.

The ocean contains 95% of living space on the planet but is woefully under-explored. This remains true despite the vital functions the ocean provides, such as supporting life and regulating oxygen levels.

While the average depth of the ocean is about 2.65 miles, the deepest part is upwards of 6.86 miles deep. This area is called the Challenger Deep, which is located in the western Pacific Ocean.

Deeper water means higher pressure and lower temperatures. These harsh conditions can make deep ocean exploration challenging. Water temperature hovers around 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the pressure is nearly 110 times greater than the earth’s surface. However, due to new technology and rising interest, this is beginning to change.

Watch the video below for an overview of the ocean’s depth.

Special thank you to Real Life Lore for this fascinating video!

Common Nautical Phrases

Do you know the origins behind common nautical phrases like ‘cup of Joe’? What about ‘as the crow flies’? ‘Shake a leg’?

It may come as a surprise that these common nautical phrases have interesting roots. While we cannot verify the historical context of these terms, they sure are a lot of fun!

Groggy

Meaning unwell the term groggy denotes a hangover from the alcoholic drink grog. The word grog comes from “Old Grog,” which was the nickname sailors gave to Admiral Vernon, the commander in chief of the West Indies. Admiral Vernon was renowned for watering down his sailors’ rum ration. This watered down rum become known as grog.

Three sheets to the wind

Very drunk. In sailors’ language, a sheet is a rope. If three sheets are not attached to the sails as they ought to be, the sail will flap and the boat will lurch around in a drunken fashion. Sailors had a sliding scale of drunkenness. This common nautical phrase had s sliding scale: tipsy was “one sheet”, whereas falling over was “three sheets”.

As the crow flies

Crows like to be on dry land and will fly straight, bypassing rivers, water, and other obstacles to be ashore. Ships carried crows and in cases of poor visibility, scouts let one free and charted the bird’s flight to shore.

Additionally, the term ‘crow’s nest’ stems from an old Norse practice of attaching a cage full of crows to the mast. The crows were eventually phased out for more modern forms of navigation, but the term remained.

Chock a block

This nautical phrase came as a surprise. Chocks are wedges that secure moving objects. A block and tackle is a pulley system on sailing ships that hoist the sails. A possible derivation is that when two blocks of rigging tackle were so close together they couldn’t be tightened further, it was said they were “chock-a-block”.

Knows the ropes

In sailing’s early days, this term was written on a seaman’s discharge to indicate that he was still a novice and only knew the names and uses of the principal ropes or lines. Today, this is mostly used conversely—to indicate that someone has an understanding of processes or procedures.

Cup of Joe

Josephus Daniels was appointed as Secretary of the Navy in 1913. Almost immediately, he banned wine and spirits from ships. From then on, the strongest drink aboard Navy ships was coffee, and over the years, a cup of coffee became known as “a cup of Joe”.

Shake a leg

This hotly debated phrase has multiple origin stories. However, one source claims that this phrase originates from the British Royal Navy—officers would order sleeping sailors to throw a leg out from their hammocks to wake up.

Son of a Gun

These days, this phrase is often used in polite conversation instead of a more vulgar term.

Traced this back to the British Royal Navy. Although the Navy had rules against it, they occasionally turned a blind eye to women joining sailors on long voyages. So, in the rare case where a child with uncertain paternity was born onboard, they were listed in the ship’s log as ‘son of a gun’.

Thanks to Navy.mil and phrases.org.uk for these fun facts and trivia.

Do you know any fun facts about common nautical phrases? Let us know at in the comments!

Why does Port mean Left?

The origins of port and starboard

If you are an ardent boater or frequent guest of anyone who owns a boat, you become exposed to an array of confounding marine jargon: head, tiller, rudder, galley, wench, Dark and Stormy, stewardess, man overboard, flybridge, port and starboard. The list goes on and on (and on).

Today, we unpack two of the most commonly heard marine terms. What are the origins of port and starboard?

Unlike left and right, “port” and “starboard” refer to fixed locations on a vessel.

NOAA unpacks it as well:

“In the early days of boating, before ships had rudders on their centerlines, boats were controlled using a steering oar. Most sailors were right-handed, so the steering oar was placed over or through the right side of the stern. Sailors began calling the right side the steering side, which soon became “starboard” by combining two Old English words: stéor (meaning “steer”) and bord (meaning “the side of a boat”).

As the size of boats grew, so did the steering oar, making it much easier to tie a boat up to a dock on the side opposite the oar. This side became known as larboard, or “the loading side.” Over time, larboard—too easily confused with starboard—was replaced with port. After all, this was the side that faced the port, allowing supplies to be ported aboard by porters.”

Tag: marine trivia