Where is deep sea

The feeding frenzy also disperses bits and pieces as well as nutrients into the surrounding seafloor where anemones, sea stars, mollusks, worms, and other crustaceans take advantage of the food. Some whale falls can support a blanket of 45, worms per square meter—the highest animal density in the entire ocean.

Soon the skeleton is picked clean, but the fall is far from nutrient depleted. Whale bone consists of roughly 60 percent fat by weight, up to times the amount of nutrients typically found at the seafloor. Specially adapted worms and snails take advantage of this feast by boring into the inner bone with acid and absorbing the fats inside with the help of bacteria. The worms, called Osedax worms , ride ocean currents as larvae and then settle on the exposed bone.

The first of these larvae develop into females, with one end tunneling into the bone and forming what looks like roots growing through the bone. The other end grows into a feathered fan that lets them extract oxygen from the water. Larvae that arrive later or land on another worm, become males, but never really grow beyond the larval form.

Scientists have found about 25 species of bone eating worms since they were first discovered in , and many more are thought to exist. Some are specialized burrowers that dig within the bone for the fat, while others pick apart the surface layers.

Other bacteria types grow directly on the bones and feed on the sulfur. Up to different types of these bacteria have been found on a single whale carcass, and up to 20 percent of those are also found living around hydrothermal vents.

No two whale fall communities are the same. The size of the whale, the depth of the seafloor, and the location all contribute to the types of animals that colonize the area and determine how long it takes for the skeleton to disappear.

Our knowledge of whale falls comes from few and far between ROV and AUV encounters, so though whale falls are scarce, scientists estimate they exist at every 5 to 16 km in the Pacific Ocean. These are hydrothermal vents. Hydrothermal vents exist in volcanically active areas. As the water heats it absorbs metals like iron, zinc, copper, lead, and cobalt from the surrounding rocks.

Hot water rises, carrying these minerals to the surface of the sea floor. There, it meets cool ocean water, an event that sparks chemical reactions and forms solid deposits. Over time the deposits create towers—forming the classic image of a hydrothermal vent. These vents are also so deep that they never see a glimmer of light from the sun. Despite these obstacles, clams, mussels, shrimp, and gigantic worms thrive in these habitats.

Their existence is thanks to bacteria. Animal life at a hydrothermal vent relies on the energy produced by symbiotic bacteria. The bacteria live either inside the bodies or on the surface of their hosts. But unlike most life on earth that uses light from the sun as a source of energy, these bacteria produce energy through a chemical reaction that uses minerals from the vents.

Scientists first learned of these symbiotic relationships through the study of the Riftia tubeworm. Upon first discovering hydrothermal communities in , scientists were perplexed by the diversity and abundance of life. Hydrogen sulfide is normally poisonous, but the Riftia worm has a special adaptation that isolates it from the rest of the body.

Their blood contains hemoglobin that binds tightly to both oxygen and hydrogen sulfide. Further investigation into these unique habitats showed that many of the other creatures that live by the vents also rely on symbiotic bacteria. The yeti crab waves its arms in the water to help cultivate bacteria on tiny arm hairs which it then consumes. It seems like an impossibility—coming across a lake at the bottom of the ocean.

But due to chemical and physical properties of water, this is, in fact, a reality. Brine lakes are super salty pools of water that sit on the ocean floor. The extreme saltiness causes significantly denser water than the average ocean water and, like water and air, the two do not mix.

These brine lakes are a remnant of ancient seas that existed when dinosaurs roamed on land. Many brine lakes have been discovered in the Gulf of Mexico. Millions of years ago, during the Jurassic Period, a shallow sea existed where the Gulf of Mexico now sits. By the time the ocean returned to that region, sediment had covered the salt, isolating it from the seawater. But as the Rocky Mountains began to rise and subsequently erode, the extra weight of the sediment flushed into the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River was enough to break the seal.

Salt is naturally lighter than soil and as it became squeezed by the soil above, it began to rise. This mixture though, was still many times the salinity of ocean water. The result is a brine lake. Brine lakes are deadly for ocean creatures. Their carcass, pickled and preserved , serves as a warning of the toxic landscape below.

But for many creatures the risk is worth it. A brine lake is also an area high in methane and certain bacteria can use the methane in a chemical reaction to produce energy. Along with the Gulf of Mexico, brine lakes have been discovered in the Red Sea and off the coast of Antarctica. A cold seep is a place on the ocean floor where fluids and gases trapped deep in the earth percolate up to the seafloor.

A cold seep gets its name not because the liquid and gas that emerge are colder than the surrounding seawater, but because they are cooler than the scalding temperature of the similar hydrothermal vent. The cracks release buried petroleum-based gas and liquid from deep underground where they formed over millions of years. These liquids and gases are made up of hydrogen and carbon molecules, like methane.

It is from these chemicals that cold seep creatures get their energy. Microbes near cold seeps gain energy through chemical reactions, and then pass the energy to symbiotic partners like tubeworms, clams, or mussels. This draws larger predators like octopuses and crabs to the seeps. Like on land, deep canyons can stretch for hundreds of miles across the seafloor. Biomes of the World by S.

Author: Dr. Susan L. Content on terrestrial biomes was initially prepared in and later updated. Content on aquatic biomes added Seasonally dry tropical forest pages and some site-specific pages added in by slw. And because many seamounts are located in remote surroundings — underwater islands, essentially — virtually every study finds species that were previously unknown and are endemic, meaning that they are unique to that area. Seamounts are not only physically impressive, but like an oasis in the desert, provide an important source of food.

Because of their physical characteristics and strong localized currents, they accumulate enormous quantities of plankton. The plankton, in turn, attracts a vast array of marine life, providing feeding as well as spawning grounds for myriad pelagic species, including some that have migrated across wide oceanic areas. The deep sea is also home to remarkably rich coral systems.

Once thought to inhabit only the warm and shallow waters of tropical and subtropical regions, corals have apparently been thriving in deep, dark and cold waters throughout the world for millions of years.

Indeed, it is now thought that there are more coral species living in the dark ocean depths than in the tropical shallows. Carbon dating of living cold-water coral reefs has revealed that the oldest may be 8, years old or more. Several of the coral species create complex reefs and ornate three-dimensional, forest-like structures that rival tropical coral systems in their size and complexity.

Indeed, the oldest and tallest reef yet observed is 35 meters high. Although scientists have only just begun to explore the ecological aspects of cold-water corals, it is clear that cold-water reefs are bustling with life, providing essential sanctuaries and nursing grounds for countless species.

Seamounts, and the cold-water corals they sustain, provide habitats for several commercial bottom-dwelling fish species, such as orange roughy, roundnose grenadier, blue ling, mirror dory and silver dory. Other species, for example, alfonsino, boar fish and blue-eye trevalla, are also attracted to these habitats. Some creatures, like the anglerfish use a combination of a huge mouth and bioluminescence to catch prey, though carnivores and scavengers are much less abundant here than animals that feed on sea-floor mud and suspended matter.

Animals here must withstand pressures of up to 11, psi. They tend to be grey or black for camouflage and unstreamlined for energy conservation. Many are blind, and they are thought to reproduce very slowly.

Some examples of deep sea life here are the tripod fish, anglerfish and giant squid. Hadalpelagic Zone : The Hadal Zone or the Hadalpelagic zone is the layer of the deep sea below meters. Its found almost exclusively in deep ocean trenches. More people have been to the moon than to the Marianas Trench — the deepest part of the ocean at approximately 11, meters 36, feet. Intense Pressure : The deeper you go, the more intense the pressure.

At the surface, there is one atmosphere of pressure; for every ten meters you go underwater, the pressure increases by one atmosphere. Humans would be crushed at this depth imagine what it would feel like to put a a bucket of water on your head. Then picture the pressure of thousands of bucket of water pressing down on you. One way some animals have adapted to this pressure is that they have no air spaces.

Cold : The deep sea has extremely low temperatures. In fact, the beginning of the Abyssal Zone is conveniently defined as the area where water plummets to 4 degrees Celsius. Fish in this cold environment tend to move and reproduce very slowly. Darkness : Below the Epipelagic Zone, there is not enough sunlight for photosynthesis, and below the Mesopelagic Zone no sunlight penetrates.

Animals in these areas of low to no light have many adaptations. Some have very large eyes to catch any small amount of light. Other emit their own light with bioluminescence, disguising their silhouette, attracting food or attracting a mate.

It is thought that 90 percent of all deep sea animals have bioluminescence. Many of the animals in very low light are transparent, red or black in color. In the deep sea, red and black look the same, hiding the animal in the darkness.

Low Biomass : There is large biomass at the surface where the variety of ocean creatures are typically observed. Descending through the water column, the biomass decreases to a very small amount. The small biomass stays relatively constant until reaching the ocean floor, where the number of organisms increases again. This occurs because the deep sea food web is fueled by dying plants and animals that sink through the water column. As the dead biological material sinks, it becomes food for bacteria and animals, but it is only a transient source of food, coming and going quickly.

The final remains of the falling biological material settles on the sea floor, giving nourishment to the depths. This accumulation of dead organisms is greatly responsible for the spike in biomass here. Constant conditions : While constancy may not seem like a challenge, it is a unique characteristic of the deep sea that has shaped the evolution of many deep sea animals.

There are no diurnal or seasonal changes; day is night and summer is winter in the deep sea. The icy water of the very deep sea about feet originates at the poles and moves slowly to the sea floor. The conditions including temperature, salinity and amount of oxygen of the water at the poles are the conditions it maintains in the deep sea.

Animals at these depths tend to move very slowly, have bulky and unstreamlined bodies, and require little oxygen. In fact, the sea floor is completely devoid of oxygen for the first few inches. The Abyssal Zone retains several cubic centimeters of oxygen per liter because animals here require much less oxygen than is available. Bioluminescence refers to the production of light via a chemical reaction. This is not to be confused with phosphorescence or florescence.