“No way man, there’s like 7 billion of us!”
Yeah way. 7 billion is a baby figure compared to the winner of this question.
Hello fellow Steemians,
Welcome to the 2nd episode of the The most Abundant series - A 4 part mini-series where we dive into the most abundant subjects (things/animals/molecules) living around us.
In the last episode, I talked about a specific species of frog called the African Claw Frog and how in a short decade, it became the most abundant amphibians to walk (or hop) on the planet. If you missed that one, don’t worry you can check that one out by clicking here.
For today’s topic, we’re going to talk about vertebrates (creatures with backbone), specifically, the most abundant one. So let’s dive into it right away.
It’s easy to think or feel like we’ve seen it all especially when almost all piece of land on the planet has been incessantly explored for the past millennia. From the dessert of Ethiopia to the far reach of the arctic region; it’s hard to think of a piece of land that we have yet to discover, in fact I don’t think there is any. Therefore, when trying to answer the question of what is the most abundant vertebrates on the planet, we tend to think of terrestrial creatures and perhaps some common fishes we usually see on TV.
But the thing about land habitat is that it only makes up an abysmally small percentage of the planet’s entire biosphere (habitable space) which is around 1%. The other 99% lies in the vast and mysterious ocean so vast and mysterious that we’ve sent more people into outer space than the bottom of the ocean floor. Deep in the waters, beyond the reaches of almost all of the human population, lies the vertebrates that holds the title for being the most abundant one.
Vertebrates is actually a subphylum of the phylum Chordata and it basically means a group of organisms with spinal cord surrounded by cartilage or bone. Vertebrates make up a sizeable majority of the phylum Chordata with at least 66 thousands species described thus far. So it’s pretty clear that we’re talking about fish at this point but which one of them is at the top of the list for their mass number? Is it the dory? Is it the anchovies?
The answer actually lies deeper, like as far as 3 miles deeper from the surface of the ocean.
Enter the Bristlemouth
This creature hails from the Cyclothone genus and more specifically, the Bristlemouth family which consists of 32 species. There’s a few thing to highlight about this fish so let’s start with the Physical characteristics
They are tiny, at least for human standard, measuring up to just a finger-length on average. Next, their mouth – they have spiky bristle-like teeth (Hence the name) and can open their mouth extraordinarily wide. Moving on, they are Bioluminescent creature as their organs glow in bright blue. That’s right, this is thanks to its light-emitting organs called photophores along their sides. In large numbers amidst the darkness, seeing schools of glowing blue can be chilling and mesmerising at the same time. It’s not something we’re used to seeing and in the words of William Beebe (a senior explorer of what is now the Wildlife Conservation Society) in the 1930’s - Aliens. Last but not least, they are Protandrous - They start their life as male and some, switch to become female (A male-first Hermaphrodite). You can actually tell which one is the female or the male judging from the size as the adult male tend to be smaller and had a better developed sense of smell, presumably to search for mates in the darkness.
Their numbers
They make up for their lack of diversity and size with stupendous numbers. So, how many are we talking? Well estimates put them in the trillions if not quadrillions.
The first clue that pointed towards its mass number came from the voyage of the H.M.S Challenger which sailed the globe between 1872 till 1876. Upon hauling up lowered nets from dozens of sites, they managed to pull up the fish down to even 3 miles deep.
According to Peter C. Davison, a fish scientist at the Farallon Institute for Advanced Ecosystem Research, in Petaluma, Calif, “No other animals gets close, there are as many as a dozen per square meter of ocean.”
Like most creature in great number, they stand at the bottom of the food chain for deep sea dweller, being consumed by other predators in its food-chain.
That’s all for this entry, hope you found this one informative and interesting. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to leave a vote and resteem for other viewers to read as well. Follow me for more of this series and other great content.
Thank you very much.
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