Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling, it's better down where it's wetter,
Take it from me
Up on the shore, they work all day
Out in the sun, they slave away
While we're devotin' full time to floatin'
Under the sea!
Under the sea
Darling, it's better down where it's wetter,
Take it from me
Up on the shore, they work all day
Out in the sun, they slave away
While we're devotin' full time to floatin'
Under the sea!
—"Under the Sea", from The Little Mermaid (1989)
Tropes about what goes on under the surface of water.
See Aquatic Animal Tropes for creatures that reside underwater. Seaborne and Submersible Vehicles will usually be doing the exploring. Also see Subterranean Index and Index in the Sky.
Tropes:
- Artificial Gill: A device that allows a character to breathe underwater.
- Awesome Underwater World: The undersea realm depicted as awesome.
- Captain Fishman: Superheroes that specialize in deep sea crime-fighting.
- Catch of the Doomsday: A dangerous creature or object is unintentionally fished up.
- Cement Shoes: It's what you wear when you go sleep with the fishes.
- Creepy Old-Fashioned Diving Suit: Old model diving suits are scary.
- Dive! Dive! Dive!: Stock Phrase used on submarines or anything to do with something going down.
- Dive Under the Explosion: Diving into water to avoid an explosion.
- Drowning Pit: A Death Trap that tries to drown its occupant.
- Eldritch Ocean Abyss: The deep sea is full of eerie and/or terrifying creatures.
- Fish People: Fish-like humanoids.
- Flooded Future World: When climate change leads to the surface of Earth being mostly or entirely flooded in the future.
- Guns Firing Underwater: Guns can be practically drowned in water and still fire accurately, if not a little worse for wear.
- Oceanic Horror: Using the ocean and/or its creatures as a source for horror.
- Oxygen Meter: A mechanic in video games that shows how long a character can hold their breath, usually while underwater.
- Oxygenated Underwater Bubbles: Inhale large bubbles to avoid drowning.
- Perilous Prehistoric Seas: Prehistoric seas are full of hardships for anyone who lives or travels there.
- Reed Snorkel: Using a reed to breathe underwater.
- Sea Monster: Giant aquatic creatures that live in large bodies of water.
- See Water: Underwater visibility is perfect in fiction.
- Shipshape Shipwreck: A lost ship perfectly preserved deep beneath the ocean.
- Submersible Snorkeling: A completely submerged snorkel allows a character to breathe underwater.
- Sunken City: A city half-sunken, with buildings at unsafe and possibly nausea-inducing cants.
- Super Swimming Skills: A character can swim expertly, including underwater, without difficulty or exhaustion.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: A character can hold their breath for long periods of time, or even indefinitely.
- Symbolic Serene Submersion: Floating motionless underwater as visual shorthand for a character's emotional state.
- Token Aquatic Race: A work has a variety of sapient species, but only one lives underwater.
- Under the Sea: Aquatic or underwater levels in video games.
- Underwater Base: An underwater Home Base.
- Underwater Boss Battle: A water-based boss fight in video games.
- Underwater City: An entire city of people living and "breathing" underwater.
- Underwater Fart Gag: If farting is funny, then it's even funnier when it's underwater, the reason being that farting underwater produces a bubble.
- Underwater Kiss: Kissing somebody while you're both underwater.
- Underwater Ruins: A city, ship, temple, or other place of majestic wonder submerged in water.
- Walk, Don't Swim: Walking underwater.
- Waltz on Water: Waltz music played in watery video game levels.
- Water-Breathing Humans: Human beings who have the ability to live and breathe underwater.
- Water Is Air: Life underwater is pretty much like regular life. Even physics agrees.

