We're often asked interesting questions when SERPENT goes on the road. Sometimes we don't have the answers straight away or in enough detail. We hope we can answer some of those questions on this page.

2008

Southampton Boat Show Event Questions

Southampton Boat Show 2008

16 September 2008

Do fish that are brought up alive from the abyss manage to survive the conditions in a normal aquarium?

Studying deep sea creatures is problematic, since with the extreme change in temperature, pressure and environment in general, they cannot survive for very long, if at all, on the surface. This makes in-depth research very hard because so much of what we want to know about only occurs while the creature is alive. The SERPENT project, in capturing still and moving images of creatures in the deep ocean offers facinating insights into their behaviour in their normal environment.

What is the oxygen saturation in the deep ocean compared to shallower waters? (asked by Catherine Leaney).

The dissolved oygen concentration throughout the oceans is pretty constant with depth, with notable exceptions due to localised environmental conditions. Have a look at this good graph in Wikipedia showing the relationship between oxygen saturation, depth and latitude.