As described in many creation stories, life began in vast deep waters. For thousands of years even peoples who had never seen the ocean believed that land had risen out of the water. Every culture took a different view of the ocean, however, some regarding it as hell and others as a mother, a god, or life itself. And these conceptions also varied over time. But what was unchanging was the fascination the sea exerted over human beings, providing food and life to some, and carrying others off, never to be seen again. The ocean symbolised the unfathomable limits of human journeying, the unknown and inaccessible. It has kept secrets even from modern man who has crossed the empty depths of space to reach the moon.

The knowledge acquired by science 4.6 billion years after the earth formed is not so very different from the myths and legends of previous ages. In the primitive oceans of 3.5 billion years ago, a reaction that took place between methane, ammoniac, hydrogen and water vapour led to the miraculous emergence of the first life forms, and for the next 3 billion years single-celled organisms ruled the world alone. Then a sudden rise in oxygen levels in the atmosphere 570 million years ago led in just 5 million years to what 3 billion years had not sufficed to achieve before: the evolution of a multitude of different life forms. The sea sent some of its creatures onto land. Some species evolved only to become extinct, leaving traces of their existence imprinted in rock.

The sea creatures whose diversity is reminiscent of the infinity of the university are a remarkable component of life and dreams. Who can remain unaffected by the mysterious beauty of a starfish or sea anemone?
The sea is indeed life itself, with its swings of mood from blue calm to angry waves of steel grey, its smell and taste, breadth and depth, and the strange variety of creatures who inhabit those depths.
First were the waters...

* Serpil Sofuoglu Gungor is a freelance writer.