Edutainment

Otter Space Program: Darkness

Author notes to the reader.

"Scuba diving at night is one of my favorite things. It can be very scary. Darkness feels like a thick blanket wrapped around everything. Your underwater flashlight acts like a lightsaber and you can’t resist making ‘voom voom’ sounds. With enthusiasm you charge in hacking and slashing, cutting through this darkness to discover the hidden treasures of nocturnal life. It's a thrilling adventure, until your light goes out and that darkness envelops you, but that's when you'll see it. The Ocean has taught me that some of life's most beautiful moments can happen during its darkest times.”

“Wetfoot to mission control. Wetfoot to mission control.” Kevin released the radio's talk button and listened closely. The reply was the same faint static he had heard all week. Kevin's ship the KueNik was adrift, trapped in the mighty flow of the offshore currents.

“Okay Kevin this is no time to panic, you didn't earn the most Otter Scout badges for nothing, you just need to think.” Kevin said out loud as he reached into his pockets and laid out the tattered remains of his map. His OSP Certified Multi-Tool helped him hold one corner of the map while he reviewed his route. Kevin was in uncharted waters. The No Otter Zone was a complete mystery to his colony and he was determined to report his findings. One mark on the map made him smile: the word ‘island' crossed out and ‘Whale’ added in bold below it. It was the biggest living thing Kevin had ever seen. A whale bluer than the sky and feeling just as big when your little ship runs into it. His eye darted over to an inward dent patched over with tape. Another mark on the map denoting his fight with those spiny aliens. He’ll never forget their five-teethed mouths trying to bite through his helmet. Kevin gave his multi-tool a big thumbs-up for saving the day, again. He looked back down at his map to find a new mark. A round wet one. The ceiling was leaking and a drop had finally found its way onto Kevin’s map.

“That's ok, it's just a little water, let me just get the...Uh-oh, I'm out of quack tape.” Kevin's realization was punctuated by water bursting through the ceiling followed by the panicked beeping of the hull breach alarms. The KueNik was sinking fast.

“Okay now it's time to panic. Ahhhhhh!” Kevin swiftly stuffed his pockets with what he could as the water level rose. He sloshed through the water, frantically putting on his emergency gear. He managed to get his helmet on just before the water overtook his head. Kevin held on tightly to the exit hatch. He had to wait for the pressure to equalize before he could escape. This gave him time to look back at his ship one last time. As Kevin turned the handle he hoped the old stories about Keoonick the Mischievous were true; that he’d return from the dead as if nothing happened, to trick the rabbits again.

The hatch opened with a burst of air and Kevin was ejected upwards. He rose on a cloud of ever-dividing bubbles towards the surface. As Kevin reached neutral buoyancy, the bubbles around him faded upwards in the darkness. It was a new moon night and the night sky was as dark as the deep ocean. If it weren't for the rising bubbles, Kevin would have no sense of up or down as he drifted through the darkness. Kevin couldn't help feeling defeated. He took a moment to sigh and stare off into the empty void. The small streak of a shooting star caught his eye and he quickly wished he could be home, floating in the raft with the rest of the colony. That was until he realized he wasn't looking up at the night sky, but down into the deep. He tried to focus on these flashes of light, but found in his haste he had put his helmet on backwards. The words sⅎⅎnԀ ǝsǝǝɥϽ molded into the plastic distorted his view. He managed to turn it around as another flash whizzed by his helmet. That's when Kevin noticed it was a Copepod. He saw hundreds of them surrounding him. Like fireflies, Copepods use bioluminescence, but unlike them, can fire emergency flares when escaping danger. The copepods are no more than 2 millimeters long. These tiny crustaceans think Kevin is a big scary monster trying to eat them, so they shoot bioluminescence torpedoes to scare him off. It created a beautiful mini fireworks show, which put a smile back on Kevin’s face. What he did not realize was that he was sitting at the center of the world's largest migration of animals.

The Diel Migration is triggered by the setting sun. Copepods are some of the first to respond. With the protection of night they race up from the depths, some traveling more than 1000 meters to feast on the nutrient-rich surface waters. The copepods hunt photosynthetic plankton; microscopic, single-celled organisms that harvest energy from the bright sun. The tiny copepods are themselves food for bigger animals. Many large animals start as tiny babies, like the mighty Lion Fish. As a baby the Lionfish is very vulnerable and uses its translucent body to hide in the plankton while chasing down its prey. Other predators take a more relaxed approach.

Kevin was so happily entertained by this mini cat-and-mouse show that he didn't notice the rising army. Deep Sea Jellies of all shapes and sizes were quietly fluttering around Kevin. Many Deep Sea Jellies use bioluminescence to attract their prey. Their long, stinging tentacles were no threat to Kevin in his suit, but the Copepods didn’t stand a chance as the hungry Jellies filled their clear stomachs with glowing food. Some of these jellies had hitchhikers. A juvenile Trevally hides itself under the bell of a Deep Sea Jelly, using the Jellies’ tentacles to protect itself. Again Kevin found himself not in sorrow, but laughing at the odd pairs. A Paper Nautilus managed to land a few suckers on top of the jelly’s bell. It got a free ride while letting the Jelly push it to all the food, but Kevin guessed that was the downside to having no brain, eyes, heart, kidneys, or most other major organs. A sea jelly is basically a stomach that moves.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from a stomach that floats around is the jet-powered Squid. Most cephalopods, like squids, are able to control the pigment cells in their skin. The patterns they create serve many purposes, from hunting food to finding love. Pelagic Squids raced past Kevin like hunger-guided torpedoes. Having excellent vision, they pounce on their prey using two long tentacles which shoot out like a chameleon’s tongue to grab and pull their food into the grip of eight sticky, suction-cup filled arms. At its peak, the diel migration filled the ocean surface with millions of animals, all of them chasing energy from a sun they never see. With the sun cresting the land to the east, and bellies full, the creatures of the night retreated into the dark depths.

Kevin stayed and watched the light drive the last few jellies away. The ocean around him began to glow from above now, instead of below. The amazing spectacle of lights he had just witnessed, now gone, were drowned out by the morning sunlight on the water. Kevin surfaced to find the ocean was calm. The raw energy of the sun just above the horizon hit his face. Warming energy. Feeling a sense of rejuvenation Kevin spotted an island not too far off and the thought of finding supplies for a new ship kept his spirits high on the long swim.

* * * * * *

Image reference

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/slideshow/meet-the-creatures-of-the-night-sea

Diel Migration Animation

https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/daily-migration/

If you got this far Thank you and we welcome you to listen to a sample of some text to speech version of our story. This is a different chapter than the one above but hopefully just as fun and educating. You as the listener should have commenter powers if you wish to give us feed back.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jVhTjak_7e8fpyVYmxYC4kNTbRsIoKyv/view?usp=sharing