So far removed from the light of the sun and the power of photosynthesis, deep-sea creatures depend upon the constant drizzle of marine snow—flakes of snot, poop, and disintegrated flesh from the world above them. Some flakes take weeks to reach the seafloor and grow as they fall, accumulating into white tufts. What is not eaten disintegrates into the ooze that carpets three-quarters of the deep ocean floor. At these depths, it is always marine snowing, always marine winter.
