

A World of Creatures That Hide in the Open - tokenadult
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/science/a-world-of-creatures-that-hide-in-the-open.html

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jmduke
I think the central appeal of this article lies in the science behind these
fish, but I personally find most fascinating the exploratory aspect of the
entire thing. I know man's next horizon is the stars and all that jazz, but
we've still only explored ~5% of the ocean [^1] and it doesn't feel like we're
making any substantial effort to increase that percentage.

I was not born with any particular zeal for marine biology -- to be honest, a
lot of fish just kinda freak me out, even more so after that picture of a
flatfish larva -- but the notion of this entire ecosystem literally right
beneath us is fascinating.

I think I'm going to try and stop thinking of it as "hey, let's discover X
more species of fish and map Y more geological patterns" and more thinking of
it as the general sense of wonder: that after so many years and so many
accomplishments, there are still some things that we haven't quite figured out
yet -- there are still quite a few surprises in places that we thought we'd
figured out completely. (The idealist's version of completing your map in
_Civilization_ , to use a strained metaphor.)

Does anyone have any good literature about this subject to recommend?

[^1]:
[http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html](http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html)

~~~
prawn
"... it doesn't feel like we're making any substantial effort to increase that
percentage ..."

I guess the financial incentive isn't there as it is with the value of
asteroids, or the tourism and backup-for-life potential of other planets.

