CSS Forums - 10 Incredible Oceanic Extremes

[B][CENTER][SIZE="3"]10 Incredible Oceanic Extremes [/SIZE][/CENTER][/B]

The ocean covers nearly three-fourths of the globe and is home to many extremes from its surface to its depths.I've picked some of the most extreme facts the ocean has to offer. Happy sailing!

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[B]1.Largest creature:[/B]The blue whale is Earth's largest creature, and probably the largest animal that has ever lived on this planet. It can measure nearly 100 feet long and weigh 180 metric tons. Its heart is as big as a Volkswagen Beetle and its body is larger and heavier than the estimates for any known dinosaur.

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[B]2. Largest living structure:[/B] Dwarfing even the mighty blue whale, the largest living structure is the Great Barrier Reef, a mass of coral off the northeastern coast of Australia that extends some 1,250 miles. The reef supports an amazing array of life that includes approximately 2,000 species of fish.

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[B]3. Deepest point:[/B] The deepest point on Earth is located in the Mariana Trench southwest of Guam. This point, the Challenger Deep, is estimated to be 36,198 feet deep. That's enough to hold Mount Everest with more than 6,000 feet to spare.

[B]4. Tallest wave: [/B]In 1933 sailors on a United States naval ship recorded a 112-foot-tall wave in the Pacific Ocean.

[B]5. Smallest fish: [/B]The female of the pygmy goby, found in the Philippines, measures less than one-quarter of an inch at full size.

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[B]6. Scariest embrace:[/B] The giant squid, the world's largest invertebrate, grabs its lunch with tentacles up to 40 feet long and gazes upon prey with eyes the size of basketballs. Fortunately, giant squids reside in the deep sea and there is no evidence that one has ever attacked a person.

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[B]7. Longest migration:[/B] The gray whale migrates more than 10,000 miles each year, tracing a path between the Bering Sea and lagoons off the coast of northern Mexico.

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[B]8. Toothiest smile:[/B] Some sharks may grow, lose, and replace as many as 30,000 teeth in their lifetime. Several rows of replacement teeth continually develop behind the teeth a shark actually uses

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[B]9. Longest mountain range: [/B]The mid-ocean ridge wraps around the globe's oceans like seams on a baseball to create a continuous chain of mountains over 40,000 miles long.

[B]10. Most valuable commodity:[/B] The ocean is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of gold. Even at the bargain price of $200 per ounce, that comes to $640 quadrillion. But because nobody has figured out how to collect all of that gold, the ocean's most important economic products today include fish, salt, and offshore oil deposits.