Deep-Sea Survival
Science · Animals of the World · conceptual
Explain how deep-sea animals cope with crushing pressure (no gas-filled spaces, flexible proteins, pressure-adapted enzymes); describe thermoregulation extremes — antifreeze glycoproteins in Antarctic fish, supercooling in wood frogs; introduce tardigrades and cryptobiosis (surviving desiccation, extreme temperatures, radiation, vacuum); survey other extremophiles (thermophiles at hydrothermal vents, halophiles in salt flats); consider what these organisms tell us about the limits of life
Check your understanding
Can Deep-Sea Survival describe an animal that can survive being frozen solid, completely dried out, or exposed to the vacuum of space — and explain roughly how it manages to survive conditions that would kill almost any other living thing?
Prerequisites
Required first
Unlocks (0 directly)
None.