A rousing sea shanty written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, the song is sung by the ship's crew on the film's original soundtrack.
The song was severely cut in size as Jeffrey Katzenberg that thought in a film, unlike a Broadway show, audiences would be unwilling to watch a lengthy opening number.
[4] The "ship full of sailors first came onto the stage in the “Fathoms Below” number",[5] and they sing about the mysteriousness of the deep blue sea, and mythical stories of the merfolk, such as "look out lad, a mermaid be waiting for you".
Filmtracks wrote that "of the seven songs in "The Little Mermaid", the first two Fathoms Below and Daughters of Triton are weaker ensemble pieces that cannot compete with the lengthier production numbers that follow".
While describing the film's album as "flat and dull", it noted "Only the vocals in "Fathoms Below" and some of the percussion in "Jig" seem to exhibit a three-dimensional sound".