We know more than Mars than the seabed. An expert helps us to understand why it is still an enigma and what mysteries keep

What if we told you that there is such a tiny creature that it can hunt generating a bubble at more than 100 km/h, with a temperature similar to the sun? What if the orcs were smarter than we believe, even capable of having bait traps or hunting the very blue whale? The bottom of the sea It is still a place full of mysteries. We think we know him because we have seen documentaries or movies, but we have barely scratched his surface.

Science and separate With a new episode On our YouTube channelalso available as Podcast on Spotify and Ivoox. A space in which we address scientific issues from a close and informative approach. In this second installment, our partner Ángela Blanco talks with Álex Avelloethologist and disseminator, to explore the amazing behavior of marine animals and everything we still do not know about the ocean.

The pistolera gamba is one of those animals that costs to believe that they really exist. It is tiny, but its way of hunting has nothing subtle: it closes one of its tweezers to more than 100 km/Hy generates a bubble whose temperature, according to some studies, could approach the surface of the sun. “This always caught with tweezers too, a little above, a little below,” says Alex. The click is so brutal that it can be detected by the sound of a submarine.

If the puppets can submerge up to 3,000 meters is not only because of their size or strength, but by a fascinating biological mechanism. “It has an organ that is called sperm … I always say it is like a bag full of wax, a wax -full supermarket,” explains Álex. When they prepare to descend, they let cold water into that organ, which solidifies the wax and turns their heads into a natural ballast. “In this way they go down to every tablet,” he adds. While they descend, they emit clicks that bounce with everything they find, as a kind of sound.

There is an idea that is repeated throughout the episode: we barely know what is in the depths. “We know 4% of all oceans,” says Alex. And that leaves a lot of room for imagination. “Today, to me someone comes to make sure Megalodon is impossible for it to exist …”Every time he gives a talk in schools, children ask him about mythical sea creatures. And his answer is not a resounding. Because the truth is that we have not yet reached there.

Are dolphins smarter marine animals? Álex clarifies: “Orca is within the family of dolphins … but the orca is superior to the dolphin. In fact, the orcs hunt dolphins, the dolphins do not hunt orcas.” What comes later in the conversation ends up clarifying why. And it is worth listening.

Not all animals eat what they are in front of them. Some know how to wait. “Have that ability to say: ‘Ok, I have this that I can eat it right now, But I can use it as a tool… ”, Recalls Álex when talking about an orca who saw in a video as a child. What he did with that fish is difficult to forget. He tells him in detail in the episode.

This is not all. In the second episode of science and apart there are more stories that surprise, that make them think and that remind us of everything we do not know yet. You can see or listen to it. Where do you prefer.

Images | Xataka

In Xataka | There are thousands of people hooked to streaming. One to 3,900 meters deep full of marine curiosities (and memes)