Epipelagic Zone

9. Oceanward of the oceanic trench, the ocean bottom first rises and then levels off to a depth of approximately 3900 m, making the deepest part of the ocean trench about [(1400)(2400)(3500)] m below the bottom of the abyssal plain ocean bottom west of the trench.

The upper zone, also known as the high tide zone, does not have enough water to sustain large amounts of vegetation.[8] The predominant organisms are anemones, barnacles, hermit crabs and limpets. The rock pools in this area are inhabited by large seaweed and small fish.

The Tidal zones consist of splash zone, high water neap tide, low water neap tide, high water spring tide, low water spring tide, mid tide level and the splash zone and sub littoral zone. All of these tidal zones can be determined by which indicator organisms/animals are living there. For an example the splash zone is the highest of all zones and the organisms that are generally living there are noddiwinkles. If you spot a lot of honeycomb barnacles and blue-grey periwinkle’s then you are most likely in the high water tide zone and water only covers this zone at high tide. White tube worms are indictor organism the mid tide level zone and is covered by water for half of the day. There’s also the low tide zone which is engulfed in water for the majority of the day expect at low tide, you can determine this zone by finding indicator organisms such as sea squirts. The final tidal zone is the sub literal zone and this is always under water the indictor organism’s living here are brown tubeworms and striped girdled chiton.

An entire new world, different from our own exists beneath the surface of our oceans. This life is full of color, shapes, sizes, wonder, and even darkness. Much of this life has yet to be explored but we still know that beneath the waves exist the most beautiful creatures and the most bizarre. Magical areas such as the coral reef and mysterious areas such as the depths of the ocean are homes to over 700,000 species that live in the ocean. This includes the eighty percent of the ocean that has yet to be explored. Even though there may be separate oceans on this planet, they are still interconnected by a body of salt water. No area of the ocean is the same, which brings us to the wonderful fact that so many different species are able to flourish

The closest to the surface is the epipelagic subzone stretches to about 200m. This zone has enough sunlight and nutrients for bigger marine creatures like tuna, sharks, giant jellyfish and predator fishes. The second subzone, the mesopelagic, also known as the twilight zone, with the depth of 200m to 1000m; this zone has barely sunlight. The insufficient of sunlight prohibits organisms to perform photosynthesis in the twilight zone. Surviving in the twilight zone is about seeing and not being seen. These organisms need to be able to see their prey, but they should not be spotted by their predators. The next subzone is the bathypelagic ranging from 1000 to 4000 m, containing bioluminescent marine organisms which create light, like hatchet fish and squid. Below 150m, photosynthesis is impossible; hence there are only animals and no plants in this region and below. The animals living in the bathypelagic zone solely rely on detritus for food or on eating other animals. At this depth and pressure, the animals most commonly found are fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and jellyfish.Red, black and bioluminescent animals in this appear as completely black to others since there is very little to no light penetration at this depth. Following the bathypelagic is the abyssopelagic zone, locating with the depth of 4,000m, it is

The Sublittoral is the region of the ocean below the low tide limit and extends all the way to the edge of the continental shelf. This zone is submerged permanently despite the turn of the tides and the intra/interspecific competition for space is extreme. Organisms in this region rarely experience intense sun or air exposure and organisms such as blue

In ocean studies, the neritic zone, also called coastal waters, the coastal ocean or the sublittoral zone, refers to that zone of the ocean where sunlight reaches the ocean floor, that is, where the water is never so deep as to take it out of the photic zone.

If we are in deep waters we stay near the surface. We live in warm tropical waters in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. We mostly eat sponges, anemones, squid, shrimp, and of course, jellyfish!

The difference between the littoral zone and the profundal zone is that the profundal zone does not have light that reaches it and it is under the limnetic zone, but both have a bottom sediment benthic zone where decomposition is common.

Scientists have studied the ocean’s history and discovered that this occurrence has happened many times before, and for at least the past 70,000 years it has been closely related to major climatic shifts on Earth. They believe the phenomenon that is occurring is when ocean circulation, or “overturning”, changes or weakens, less heat is carried toward the northern hemisphere, which can cause a stadial, or cold period. Another question to ask is how do scientists know this has occurred before? That answer can be found within tiny sea organisms called foraminifera. These organisms were found in a core sample that was taken from an area where the less corrosive waters of the North Atlantic and more corrosive waters of the South Atlantic meet. The distinct characteristics of these waters have different effects on the shells of these tiny microorganisms, therefore, scientists can look at them and tell where they came from.

In the bathypelagic zone the ocean is pitch black, meaning sunlight does not reach here. It is also known as the midnight zone. It lies between the mesopelagic and abyssopelagic zones. This zone is less densely populated than the epipelagic and mesopelagic zones. Besides the occasional bioluminescent organisms, such as lantern fish, there is no living plant life. It is difficult for fish to live here. The fish that do live here have become very energy efficient, since it is hard to find nutrients. Many have slow metabolic rates to conserve energy. The fish here have weak muscles, soft skin and slimy bodies. Animals in this zone are not threatened by predators that can see them, so they do not have powerful muscles. Animals need to have the right adaptations to survive in this lethal area. There are no plants because of the lack of sunlight necessary for photosynthesis. Most animals that live here survive by consuming falling debris from the zones above. This is known as marine snow. The abyssal plain is covered with soft sludge composed of dead

2. What are the three major layers (zones) found in the ocean? Describe each layer briefly. The three layers of the ocean are the surface layer, the thermocline, and the deep zone. The

You’ve only seen the top layer or the intertidal zone of the bright blue ocean but have you seen the layers beneath it. The sea creatures you've seen are the ones that are close to the intertidal zone, so think in your mind, Imagine yourself down in the deep-sea Looking at all these weird creatures all around you down the coral reef. You are a bit nervous because you think that they might bite you. But, they're not going to hurt you at all.

Life in the Hadal Zone is quite intriguing. In the Hadal Zone, which at 11,000m is deeper than Mount Everest is high, the pressure rises to about one ton per square centimeter. There is almost no light at all, plants cannot grow, and there is very little food. Somehow, the ocean, and the sea life in it, still has the ability to manage a diverse environment of fish. "There are more species of animals in the deep sea than beetles in the rainforest," says Dr Copley, a deep-sea biologist from Southampton National Oceanography Centre.

Another abiotic factor that helps the formations of different zones would be the tidal movement (aerial exposure) effecting the sea life shore community. The tidal zones we found at Siren’s Rocks are the sublittoral zone, low tide, mid tide, high tide and supralittoral zone. These are all on the data recorded by us at the rocky shore we researched.