Sea animals and storms

[water]

I am wondering:

When there are storms at sea, in the middle of an ocean, and there is rain and high waves and lightning and thunderstroke -- where are the fish then?
Do they swim to lower level in the water?
What about air-breathing animals, like whales and dolphins? Do they surface for air when there is a thunderstorm going on?

 

[vslayer]

i assume they just continue as normal, its not as if they are going to drown

 

[spuriousmonkey]

Yep...i can remember swimming a storm. It is nice and quiet beneath the surface.

 

[vslayer]

but long can a whale stay under??

 

[spuriousmonkey]

Diving with a Sperm Whale
The very idea terrifies me, but let's go on a dive with a sperm whale.
We start at the surface. Our sperm whale is getting ready to go hunting. Her hunting grounds are where the squid and other tasty sea creatures are bountiful - a world where "the sun don't shine." Straight down. Way down. Into total cold crushing blackness.
If our whale has just come up from a dive she first spends 10 minutes or more clearing her lungs, blowing a breath in and out every 12 seconds. She's getting rid of old carbon dioxide from the last dive and loading up with fresh oxygen. She's got to store up a lot of oxygen because she will be holding her breath for the next 45 to 60 minutes.

from:
http://www.ftexploring.com/askdrg/askdrgalapagos2.html

 

[fetus_fajitas]

It's quite amazing really because we've sent probes to other planets. we've taken photos from the surface of Mars. Built a space station. Yet we have never been to the bottom of the ocean.

But i doubt there's anything exciting there anyway so who cares.

 

[spuriousmonkey]

Yes, we have been to the bottom of the ocean. Just not everywhere or in the deepest place.

 

[water]

But what about dolphins and other whales that can't hold their breath for such long periods of time?

Do they swim away from the place of the storm?

What about sea otters that live in the ocean their whole life, never going to shore?
What do they do in storms?

 

[sargentlard]

But what about dolphins and other whales that can't hold their breath for such long periods of time?

I'd imagine they surface for air just as usual in the hazy waters and quickly sink back down. LIke someone mentioned: they can't drown and I doubt they'd get hit by lightening in the amount of time they surface for air.

Do they swim away from the place of the storm?

They might but storms on the oceans can extend for hundreds of miles.

 

[0scar]

I can't imagine that they care much, it might be a little scary but I highly doubt that they act any differently. Why stay under the water longer than normal? To avoid the rain?

 

[curioucity]

How about tsunamis? What do aquatic creatures do about it?

 

[spuriousmonkey]

I imagine waves are not a very big problem unless they break on the coast.

 

[Gondolin]

How about tsunamis? What do aquatic creatures do about it?

I doubt they even notice it. Since a tsunami is only a foot or so higher than the normal swells in the middle of the ocean.