What lives at the bottom of the ocean? Let us go on a trip to find out. Down we go.

Far down in the deep ocean, it is dark. Sunlight does not reach there. It is also very cold. On average it is about 4 degrees Celsius.

Now let us go deeper. The water above pushes down on you. The deeper you go, the harder it pushes.

Look at this fish. A deep-sea anglerfish has a glowing lure. It hangs in front of its mouth.

You may have heard that nothing makes light down there. In fact, many deep-sea animals make their own light. Making light like this is called bioluminescence.

Let us look at a big animal. A giant squid has eyes as big as dinner plates.

Marine snow is a shower of bits of food. It slowly falls from the upper ocean to the deep. Many deep-sea animals eat it.

A vampire squid has two long, sticky threads. They catch bits of that food as it falls. Then it pulls the bits through its arms to eat.

Now let us go to a vent. A hydrothermal vent is a place on the sea floor. Very hot water comes out of the ground there.

Giant tube worms live at deep-sea vents. They can grow almost five feet long.

Now let us meet a fish. Snailfish live deeper than any other fish scientists have found. They live in the deepest trenches.

How can we see down there? Robot submarines called ROVs explore the deep ocean. Scientists steer them from a ship.

Words to know

• lure: a dangling light
• bioluminescence: living light
• hydrothermal: hot-water
• trenches: deep sea valleys
• ROVs: robot submarines