Open Ocean Flashcards
Epipelagic zone
200m in depth
Photic zone
Aka the epipelagic
Mesopelagic zone
200m to 1000m in depth
Other names for the mesopelagic zone
Twilight zone and midwater zone
Bathypelagic + absyssopelagic + hadalpelagic are all
The deep sea
What is the deep sea also known as?
The midnight zone
Does the epipelagic zone have enough sunlight for photosynthesis?
Yes.
Why are epipelagic zone considered low production zones?
Because lack of land based nutrient inputs, and marine based nutrients are trapped in deeper environments
What are some ways that organisms have adapted to living in the epipelagic zone?
- being very small - requires less energy, avoids sinking, short life span which allows for taking advantage of high productivity conditions
- being very big - actively travels to areas with higher production
Plankton - what are they and how are they suited to epipelagic conditions?
- small organisms that drift with the current
Typically small, unable to swim
Shorter lifespan - boom/bust cycles
Types of plankton - holoplankton
Spend entire lives in plankton
Types of plankton - meroplankton
Planktonic during certain life history stages
Neustons
- organisms living at the air/water interface. Can be considered a type of plankton
Nekton
Any aquatic organism that can actively propel itself through the water without touching the bottom
- fish, cetaceans, cephalopods, some crustaceans
Creatures in the epipelagic often have adaptations to help them
Swim. Such as powerful tails, flins/flippers
Some adaptations that epipelagic organisms have to avoid predation
- escape tactics - swimming faster, flying fish
- camouflage - countershading
- schooling
- aggregating under structure like floating algae
What are FADs
- fish aggregating devices, man made structures like a buoy or a float
