• Question: How is the dead sea different to other seas?

    Asked by hmarlowe to Anil, Blanka, Cees, Emma, Mike on 25 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Emma Trantham

      Emma Trantham answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      The dead sea is actually a salt lake that is 8.6 times more salty than the ocean! The high salt levels make it really difficult for living things to survive there which is why it is called the ‘dead’ sea. Amazingly though we now know that there are some bacteria and tiny fungi that can survive in these really high salt levels so it technically isn’t really ‘dead’ after all.

    • Photo: Blanka Sengerova

      Blanka Sengerova answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      As Emma says, the Dead Sea is vrey salty, which is why you can float on it without any effort if you go swimming there. This means that only certain organisms, which are well adapted to extremely salty environments can survive there. But I guess it’s no different to adaptations to life in the desert, the deep ocean vents or the extreme cold of the Antartic…

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