CONTENTS
These pages contain pictures,
links and information on deep sea habitats and animals,
with details on our studies from our many deep-sea
expeditions and specimens sent to me by deep-sea
researchers FOR A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF LIFE'S ADAPTATIONS TO THE DEEP SEA, SEE ALSO MY PAGE AT MARINEBIO.ORG |
V. The OCEANS in TROUBLE: Environ. issues |
VI. NEWS Updated Sept. 2024 Other Websites; Readings; Careers |
VII. Stuff |
THE OCEANS cover 70% of Earth's surface, but are so deep that they make up about 90% of the habitats for life. For an overview of the various oceans, see Shipping by Sea - A Look at Bodies of Water Around the World DEEP LIFE and ZONES:Life
in the deep sea must adapt to unique conditions of low or no
light, high pressure, low energy (except at hot vents and cold
hydrocarbon seeps), and near-freezing or--at hot
vents--superheated temperatures. |
One
unexplained but fairly common feature of deep animals is GIGANTISM--such
as oarfish, the giant squid,
etc.
.. Gigantic anemone, amphipod |
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The major deep-sea habitats (see
DIAGRAM, right) include the following; click on the topics, or
CLICK on the DIAGRAM, or SCROLL DOWN:
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PELAGIC ZONES: --EPIPELAGIC: The
familiar surface waters, where most of the energy input
(sunlight) occurs, and food chains begin primarily with phytoplankton
("plant drifters"; mostly microscopic algae such as diatoms).
Life can be abundant, if nutrients and sunlight are plentiful.
By far the most studied habitat, it goes only to a maximum
of 200m deep (maximum depth of light adequate for
photosynthesis). Consider that in comparison to the average
ocean depth at 4000m, going down to 11,000m!
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OUR
STUDIES: See our
MESOPELAGIC/MIDWATER page for more information and large pictures |
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to LIFE and ZONES / OCEAN DIAGRAM/
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General CONTENTS
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Bathyal seafloor scenes, 510-600m Bathyal seafloor scenes, 510m Rattail fish; Giant sea spider |
BENTHIC ZONES: DEEP BENTHIC
ZONES--Bathyal, Abyssal, Hadal: |
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In some places on the abyssal plain are
dense fields of manganese
nodules (right)--rocklike formations made of
growing rings of metal oxides, made by uncertain processes.
Perhaps microbes are involved, for the deep mud has many
bacteria/archaea including iron-oxidizing ones that normally
use natural iron for energy. Microbes
like these are currently consuming
the wreck of the TITANIC, which lies at
about 4000m.
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OUR
STUDIES: |
SEAMOUNTS: See pictures from SEAMOUNTS at Seamounts Online |
ForHADAL
zone pictures, JAMSTEC
in Japan has a few
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Special Habitats--VENTS
and SEEPS
--The vent microbes use geothermally-produced energy (usually as hydrogen sulfide), in a process called chemosynthesis(see link to ONR site for more information). It has been claimed that these are the only ecosystems totally independent of sunlight. However, they probably do use some molecules such as oxygen originally from the sunlit zones. Vents are also being studied as possible sites where life first began on Earth, and perhaps where life might originate on other planets and moons such as Europa. |
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OUR
STUDIES:
See our Vents and Seeps page |
Additional Information at OTHER SITES: |
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II.
ANIMALS: use buttons to the right |
MICROBES; UNKNOWNS; WORMS; TUNICATES New 2009 |
CNIDARIA (and Porifera) New 2009 |
ECHINO- DERMS New 2009 |
MOLLUSCS, CRUSTACEA, PYCNOGONIDA New 2014 |
Meso- and Bathypelagic) New 2017 |
DEEP Benthic FISHES New 2014 |
SURFACE (Epipelagic) New 2009 |
VENTS & SEEPS New 2008 |
HADAL (Trench) ZONE New 2014 |
Dr. H. Bluhm of the deep-sea
DISCOL project in Germany has pictures of many deepsea
animals.
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NOTE to Researchers: We need help identifying
species with a "*" on the above animal pages. If you can help
with any of these below or on the linked animal pages, please
send a message below, or to Whitman College at |
I thank
those who have helped with species identifications so far: Dr.
Larry Lovell, Scripps Inst. Oceanography Roger Clark Rubi Pohl, Austria Chris Mah, California Academy of Sciences Dr. Janet Voight, Field Museum in Chicago Dr. Mary Wicksten, Texas A&M University James Orr, Nat'l Marine Fisheries Service, Seattle; Leslie Harris, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Stace Beaulieu, Scripps Inst. Oceanography Dr. Franz Krapp, Zool. Forschungsinstitut und Museum A. Koenig, Germany Casey Burns, Kingston WA Erik Cordes, Moss Landing Marine Lab |
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