The ocean is a weird place

I've often heard it said that we know more about outer space than we do of the things which could be lurking in the deep-sea and I can believe it.

Ever since I was a small child I've been fascinated by all marine life but there are certain nuggets of information which still blow my mind years later.

Did you know that the horseshoe crab, those epic ocean-Roombas directly descended from 400-million-year-old fossils, are essential to medical science? Horseshoe crabs have a blue, copper-based blood which gels on impact with contaminated substances, repelling poisons and other toxins. It is possible to drain small amounts of blood from the crabs without killing them and release them back into the wild but the compound can't be replicated synthetically, making it one of the most valuable substances on earth. So next time you take pretty much any medication, don't forget to thank the guys who are scuttling around the ocean-floor, blissfully unaware of their importance to the human race.

I was twenty-two when I saw my first mantis-shrimp in the flesh and the technicolour crustacean did not disappoint. The peacock mantis is one of the most brilliantly-coloured animals on earth but that's not his only talent. So-named because their arms (held upright in a classic boxer's pose) resemble those of the praying mantis, this guy packs a punch. When their prey approaches, the mantis shrimp lashes out, smacking it hard enough to break the sound barrier and creating an audible 'snap'. They are a risky creature to keep as a pet and need acrylic tanks because those little boxing gloves are also used when the shrimp excavates a burrow which, in the home aquarium, can translate as: dig, dig, dig, crack! Whoosh!

But if you already think they couldn't get any cooler consider this... humans have between two and four retinal cones that allow them to see colour. Butterflies have five. A mantis shrimp has twenty-four. It seems strange to be envious of something you're not capable of experiencing, just as those born without sight are often significantly happier than people blinded in an accident but I feel hugely jealous thinking of the wider range of colour-spectrum possibilities that present themselves to the mantis shrimp. If being able to see infrared and ultraviolet wasn't awesome enough, I wonder what these brilliantly coloured crustaceans look like to each other.

I could genuinely go on all day about the amazing capabilities of marine life and why it would take a million people a million lifetimes to fully understand the complexities of it all. I could tell you that tool-usage has been observed among species like the Harlequin Tuskfish or that Herring fart to alert the rest of the shoal to their location in the dark depths of the North Sea. I could show you diagrams of the Moray Eel's jaw structure and how it was the inspiration for the Xenomorph in the Alien franchise or footage of feather-duster worms on the ocean floor which look like something from another planet. But thanks to the internet you have all of this at your fingertips, so instead I'd like to issue a plea to anyone reading this:

The ocean is the largest, most diverse and most beautiful ecosystem on our blue planet. It has been here since the dawn of life as we know it and billions of people depend on its resources for their livelihoods. Until such time as we succeed in terraforming Mars, it's probably the only source of habitable water in our solar system, and it needs to be protected. A mere 7.5 percent of our global waters are conservation zones and even then, they are rarely policed or guarded against those who over-fish, or illegally hunt marine mammals like whales and dolphins. I would implore governments around the world on behalf of all of the billions of life-forms, both known and undiscovered who have made the ocean their home to change this. The ocean belongs to everyone and no-one. It needs to be preserved so that future generations can experience the same sense of wonder when they explore its vast depths as we do today.