Intro to oceans

pelagic

Describing organisms that live in the water column away from the ocean bottom.

benthic

bottom of an aquatic ecosystem; consists of sand and sediment and supports its own community of organisms

hadalpelagic

water in deep water trenches or canyons, the deepest part of ocean

abyssalpelagic

a deep water division of the oceanic zone found along the bottom of the sea floor

Mesopelagic

known as the twilight zone, faint light zone of the ocean

Epipelagic

Ocean: The pelagic environment from the surface to 200 m. Plenty of sunlight to promote photosynthesis.

Neritic

Area of ocean that extends from the low-tide line out to the edge of the continental shelf

photic zone

Portion of the marine biome that is shallow enough for sunlight to penetrate.

euphotic zone

Upper layer of a body of water through which sunlight can penetrate but cannot really support photosynthesis.

Upwelling

The movement of deep, cold, and nutrient-rich water to the surface

warm currents

Originate in tropical waters, and bring unusually warm conditions to the higher latitudes affected by them.

Cold Currents

originate in the polar regions and flow through surrounding water

thermohaline circulation

an oceanic circulation pattern that drives the mixing of surface water and deep water

This decreases with depth in the ocean

Light, temperature

This increases with depth in the ocean

pressure

Common color of ocean creatures

red

Bioluminescence

the production of light by means of a chemical reaction in an organism

bioflourescence

the absorption and reemission of light from living organisms

Advantages to being a pelagic creature

Lots of living space, go where you want, sunlight up above.

Disadvantages to being pelagic

Its a big ocean and finding a mate, and avoiding being lunch is a daily grind.

Advantages to being benthic

Food floats down to you. Conserve your energy by not having to swim.

Characteristics of Pelagic creatures

strong at swimming, camouflage, schooling

Characteristics of benthic

elongated bodies, long lateral lines, filter feeding, very little color

Why is red a frequent color in the ocean?

It helps creatures hide

deep sea vent

an area in the midnight zone of the ocean where tectonic plates are moving apart and the seawater is heated up by magma and shoots out.

black smoker

The cloud of suspended minerals formed where hot water spews out of a vent along a mid-ocean ridge; the dissolved sulfide components of the hot water instantly precipitate when the water mixes with seawater and cools.

tube worm

A symbiotic organism that lives at hydrothermal vents.

symbiotic bacteria

feed the tube worm in a deep sea vent by processing sulfur

Chemosynthesis

process in which chemical energy is used to produce carbohydrates

Trophosome

an organ in deep-sea tube worms that is colonized by bacteria supplying the host worm with food and energy.

plume

the red end of a tube worm which acts like a sort of lung

tide pool

small habitats on shore that are underwater during high tide and exposed during low tide

continental shelf

A gently sloping, shallow area of the ocean floor that extends outward from the edge of a continent

the drop off

The edge of the continental shelf where the ocean gets deeper very quickly

Seamount

A steep-sided volcanic mountain rising from the deep-ocean floor.