THe OCEAN BIOMES

Coastal Biomes

Littoral

littoral zone

• Spray zone above high tide
• Dunes and estuaries
• Periwinkles, lichen, sea grasses, isopods

intertidal

intertidal zone

• High tide line to low tide line
• Includes tide pools
• Moisture, salt, temperature vary wildly
• Mangroves, barnacles, crabs, tube worms
• High biodiveristy

Neritic

The neritic zone is defined as the ocean above the edge of the continental shelf.

neritic zone

• About 200 meters deep
• Stable environment (oxygen, temperature, light)
• Majority of familiar sea life
• Coastal fish, corals, oysters, brittle stars
• Primary producers: sargassum, phytoplankton

open ocean biomes

Pelagic zones (to scale)

EpIPELAGIC

EPIPELAGIC ZONE

• "Sunlight zone"
• Surface to 200 meters
• Only zone with enough light for plants
• The ocean's primary producers are here
• Plankton, seaweed, jellyfish, tuna

MESOPELAGIC

Mesopelagic Zone

• Some light; not enough for photosynthesis
• 200m to 1000m
• Animals may move up a zone to feed
• May have enormous hidden fish biomass
• Swordfish, cuttlefish, ocean sunfish

bathypelagic

bathypelagic zone

• 1000m to 4000m
• No light penetration, only bioluminescence
• No primary producers
• Organisms are predators or eat "marine snow"
• Lanternfish, hatchetfish, giant squid, sperm whales

ABYSSOPELAGIC

Abyssopelagic zone

• 4000m to 6000m
• No light, 35 - 37 degrees F (except vents - up to 867 F!)
• Pressures up to 11,000 psi
• Abyssal plains cover 50% of the earth's surface
• Sea pig, basket star, sea spider, swimming cucumber

HADAL

HADOpelagic Zone

• Deep ocean trenches: 6000m - 10,000m
• Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench: 10,916m
• Snailfish, 4 inch wide amoebas, giant amphipods
• New species discovered by submersible in 2014

all the ocean biomes At ONCE

for research and further Study