24 FRONTIERS IN OCEANIC RESEARCH 



the window, making its way along in the sediments. It was clearly 

 made out to be a flatfish, or flounder, similar to what we observe in 

 shallow waters. 



In addition to this animal, a shrimp was seen swimming about 6 

 feet up off the bottom. 



This small amount of evidence can tell us quite a bit about the 

 ocean. Obviously, animals of this high an order require oxygen, 

 and for this amount of oxygen to be sustained, or replenished, it re- 

 quires current to bring it from the surface areas the only known 

 source of oxygen for the water masses. It must be absorbed from 

 the atmosphere, or produced by organisms living near the surface. 



It also means that these animals must have an adequate amount 

 of food to sustain themselves, or we have to consider that they might 

 swim all the way up to the surface, or up to the higher levels. This 

 is very unlikely, because flatfishes normally remain near the bottom. 

 We have observed animal life throughout the water column. This 

 is quite significant, because it indicates that, in this land of perpetual 

 darkness, animal life can exist, and there is a continuous food chain 

 for the myriad forms that do exist there. 



I mentioned that it was a land of perpetual darkness. This is not 

 quite true, because we observe bioluminescence, light produced by the 

 living organisms in the water column. They are in an area where it 

 is quite dark. What function bioluminescence plays, or of what 

 value it is to these animals, we are still not certain. It gives the 

 illusion of a starry night, as you view out of the port of the bathy- 

 scaph. 



When Lieutenant Walsh was at the bottom of the Challenger Deep, 

 he observed no detectable current. As a matter of fact, when he 

 touched bottom, the very fine sediments were raised into suspension, 

 and remained there for the greater part of the 20 minutes he remained 

 on the bottom. 



However, this showed only that currents were not present at that 

 time. They were obviously present some other time in the past. We 

 need to know more about the seasonal changes in currents at these 

 great depths. 



The bathyscaph operations off of San Diego have been hampered in 

 some respect because, as you know, the oceans have served as a gar- 

 bage dump for many of manmade wastes. Dispersion is assisted by 

 current systems and deep basins have been utilized for chemical and 

 explosive waste depositories. Out of sight and out of mind in the 

 past, these areas are now within the operating domain of the bathy- 

 scaph and future deep submersibles. Several areas of interest off 

 California are out of bounds to the bathyscaph for diving as they are 

 reserved for hazardous materials disposals. 



I bring this up to indicate that prior to the advent of the bathy- 

 scaph, we could get away with relinquishing some space in the ocean, 

 thinking that we would never be there. 



In addition to the visual observations made during the deep dive, 

 there was a complete temperature profile obtained above the Chal- 

 lenger Deep, continuous all the way from the surface to the sea floor. 

 It was clearly recorded that the temperature decreased to 2i/o° centi- 

 grade at a depth of approximately 25,000 feet, and below tins depth 

 there occurs a minor but significant increase to 3y 2 ° centigrade. This 



