Film director James Cameron is planning a trip to the very bottom of the ocean floor with the hope of being the first man to complete the voyage solo—and record the journey from his high-tech Deepsea Challenger submarine. So what sort of otherworldly-looking creatures can Cameron expect to see during his seven-mile descent to an area known as Challenger Deep, the deepest known point on the planet? We won’t know until we see his much-anticipated documentary. Until then, here’s a look at other bottom-dwelling “trench fauna,” from a glowing-sucker octopus to a 16-foot squid.
The following images were provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and also come from the book, The Deep, published by University of Chicago Press.