Art,
  A mile or more down there are many more fish than I would have expected.
Many cold water currents carrying nutrients travel deep.  Also, not
everything that lives up above can stay up above when it loses the will to
live.  Lots of stuff settles to the bottom for the detritus feeders.  Most
of the benthonic animals feed off of these volunteers.  There's got to be
enough down there to feed the giant squid too.  Or do they rise for the
occasional swimmer?
 
Charles "more questions than answers" Thomas
 
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.·´¯'·..>><((((º>¸.·´¯'·.¸.·´¯'·...¸><((((º>¸.·´¯'·.¸. , .
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From:   Conchologists of America List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of MR ART WEIL
Sent:   November 01, 1998 12:17
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Curse of the Question Man
 
Hey all;-
    Someone recently wrote about the meriads of undiscovered species
that probably inhabit the deepest parts of the oceans. Correct me if
I'm wrong (it would be the first time since 1967) but wouldn't the
absence of sunlight keep plants from growing down there? And,
therefore, wouldn't there be far fewer grazing mollusks? And thus
fewer critters for carnivorous mollusks to dine on? I know all about
the warm vents and the strange things that live there, but I believe
these may be in very limited parts of the oceans.
    Your comments?
        C of the QM