Organisms of the Epipelagic Zone
Why are most epipelagic nekton silver and blue in color?
For camouflage
These are the two areas of the epipelagic zone
What are Neritic and Oceanic
It's in the mesopelagic zone that we find this naturally occurring border between warmer waters and colder waters
What is the thermocline
This physical feature differentiates the deep sea from the mesopelagic
The epipelagic zone is the most productive area of the ocean due to this organism
What is phytoplankton
Name a strategy an organisms may use for feeding in this zone
What is vertical migration (may also mention organisms is neuston, organisms that float at the surface of the ocean)
Of the two zones of the epipelagic, this zone is more impacted by humans
What is the neritic zone
This is why most mesopelagic fishes have broad diets
What is because food is scarce, they have to wait for their food and when they find it they can't be picky
As compared to an organism's ability to get food in the deep-sea water column, how difficult is it for an organism from the deep-sea floor to find food?
It is much easier for an organism from the deep-sea floor to find food, since the food collects at the bottom of the sea floor
This is the difference between holoplankton and meroplankton
Holoplankton spend their entire lives in planktonic forms whereas meroplankton only spend part of their lives, normally as a larvae, in planktonic forms
Most nektonic species are carnivorous predators. Give an example of a large nektonic organism that is NOT a carnivorous predator.
What are baleen whales, whale sharks, and basking whales
In polar regions, this occurs during colder months and in the spring high primary production occurs
What is overturn
These are the two feeding strategies do organisms use in the mesopelagic? What are the characteristics of those organisms
What are sit-and-wait, with watery flesh and no muscles, and vertical migration, with large muscles and strong bones
This is a hot, fast actively spreading rift zone where heated water spews up from the crust. This is their nickname
What are Hydrothermal Vents and they are also called black smokers
This is the largest group of animals found on the sea-floor
What are meiofauna
These are the two types of techniques do epipelagic organisms use to prevent from sinking
What are drag (using wide body shapes and/or projections) or buoyancy (using swim bladders or oily/fatty/blubber)
Because of equatorial upwelling! At the equator there is constant wind blowing parallel to the equator and pushing surface water away (due to the Coriolis effect and the gyros spinning in opposite directions, north=clockwise, south=counterclockwise). This brings up nutrient-rich deep water to the surface, providing materials for primary production.
This is why ventrally located photophores helpful for camouflage in the mesopelagic?
What is because they use it as a type of camouflage as it disrupts their silhouette making the shape hard to discern
These are two chemicals an organism must produce in order to perform bioluminescence, what do they each do?
What are luciferin, which is a protein and reacts with oxygen to produce energy in the form of light and luciferase, which is an enzyme that increases the rate of the reaction
These are the primary producers at hydrothermal vents and are the reason why hydrothermal vents are mini-oasis in the deep sea
What is buoyancy (from swim bladders) and providing excess oxygen and higher body temps, which are more efficient for swimming (from myoglobin-rich interior muscles)
How is the weather in India connected to the weather in Peru and Chile?
The weather in both places is part of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO),which is a seesaw effect of barometric pressure (and resulting weather) in these areas
As depth increases in the ocean, the abundance of life and the quantity of food decrease, explain why
What is because there is less light, which means less photosynthesis can occur, meaning less primary production.
A whale carcass drops to the sea-floor, where there is an abundance of life (normally only found at hydrothermal vents). Two years later, at the same location, there is nothing there. Explain.
Overtime, decomposing organisms broke the dead tissue material down to a usable form for other deep-sea floor organisms. Once all the carcass was fed upon, the organisms living there died, although their offspring will be sent into the water column to find either other large animal carcass or a hydrothermal vent.
Amazingly, photosynthesis can occur in the deep sea thanks to these organisms that only need a single photon of light every 8 hours, which the glow of the vents is enough to provide!
What are Bacteriochlorophyll