LIFE IN THE DEEP SEA

Life on Earth began in the oceans 3.8 billion years ago. The seas have been home to a wide variety of organisms, ranging from microorganisms to large vertebrates that weigh over 100 tonnes. Marine life is very sensitive to any changes in the environment: species change, migrate or disappear, and when they die, they sink to the bottom to form what is known as “marine snow”. 

On the deep, dark and cold seabed, conditions are tougher, but life thrives in surprising ways. The flysch is the best-known succession of deep seabeds. It is a window into the marine life of the past.  

In this room you will discover the true stars of the flysch and how they recorded one of the greatest extinctions in Earth’s history. The shells of small foraminifera, the enigmatic trace fossils in the deep ocean and the giant ammonites of Mutriku tell tales of survival and biological evolution.