Marine Zones Essential Question: What zones of life exist in the ocean?
Intertidal Zone Seashore area between low & high tides. Geography: Rocky cliffs, sandy beaches, wetlands. Adaptations: Extremes of little to excessive water. Organisms: Urchins, sea anemones, crabs, mussels, sea stars, octupus.
Neritic Zone Coastal waters; goes to edge of continental shelf. Geography: Shallow; up to 200 meters. Adaptations: Oxygenated; Stable temperature & salinity; Abundant light. Organisms: Small fish, plankton, algae, corals, eels, turtles, dolphins, sea stars.
Benthic Zone Region of deep sea or ocean floor. Geography: Down continental slope and across abyssal plain. Adaptations: Soil & sediment affect organisms; many are permanently attached to sea floor. Organisms: Called “benthos; ” Mussel, scallop, urchins, worms, barnacles, sponges.
Light Zones Photic Zone Surface to few hundred meters down. Enough sunlight for photosynthesis (provides food source. ) 90% of marine life lives in the photic zone! Aphotic Zone Few hundred meters all the way to bottom of ocean. Little to NO sunlight, water temp is very COLD. Light – bioluminescence. Most food comes from dead organisms sinking to bottom.