THE HIDDEN THREAT

The Brilliant Abyss, True Tales of Exploring the Deep Sea, Discovering Hidden Life & Selling the Seabed

by Helen Scales

HELEN SCALES is fast becoming one of my favourite diverauthors, but as you get deeper into her latest book you find that there is a lot more to it than is immediately apparent.

It has a long subtitle but it’s the “Selling the Seabed” bit that’s the stinger.

The first half is a mouthwatering journey through those parts of the ocean that scuba-divers don’t get to see first-hand - the deep-trench seabeds, the black and white smoker geothermal vents, the deeplying seamounts and so on.

If you haven’t read any of this author’s work before you might think that trying to describe the spectacularly visual life-forms of the abyss without benefit of illustration is going into battle with one arm tied behind your back.

The challenge doesn’t seem to faze Scales, however, because she has the skill, like a sub-aquatic Bill Bryson, to conjure up word-pictures with little apparent effort. Her descriptions are so graphic that you find yourself just taking pleasure in the writing.

I first appreciated how this marine biologist could bring a subject alive in Eye of the Shoal: A Fishwatcher’s Guide to Life, the Oceans and Everything, one of my favourite diverelated books from a few years ago.

I haven’t read her earlier titles on molluscs and seahorses (there are too many new books to keep up with) but I’m sure I’d enjoy them too. She can often be heard on BBC radio too.

The Brilliant Abyss is really less about weird creatures than the importance of the deep ocean to the planet’s well-being, especially as a biological carbon pump and source of antidotes to the illnesses that plague humanity.