The Bathypelagic Zone and its Food Pyramid
The Mysterious Deep
The ocean covers 71% of the Earth’s surface, yet 95% of the deep ocean has not been explored.(NOAA, 2015) With the current technology it is still difficult for humans to investigate in the deep due to the intolerable pressure and the enormous creatures such as the giant squid, and others that are still unknown. However, using current technology, more and more information has been obtained. The veil of the deep ocean is slowly being unravelled. For this research project, the deep Bathypelagic zone will be explored along with its food pyramid. The key findings will include the information on the ecology, the creatures of the Bathypelagic zone, and a diagram of the food pyramid has been made from the information researched.
The Bathypelagic Zone
In the deep ocean there are a total of five vertical ecological zones, and the Bathypelagic Zone(Midnight Zone) is the third layer just below the Mesopelagic Zone(Twilight Zone). The Bathypelagic zone starts between 100 to 700 meters below the ocean surface and ends with 2000 to 4000 meters below the ocean surface. The temperature is
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Sperm whales will occasionally hunt at this zone for giant squid. Vampire squid(Vampyroteuthis) is the most commonly seen mollusk in this depth. Vampyroteuthis is about the size of a football. It’s body is the colour of dark red and the eyes are blue. Vampyroteuthis is also have the ability to turn itself inside-out. The snake dragon fish is known for one of the most forceful predator in the Bathypelagic zone. Similar to anglerfish, the snake dragon fish also use bioluminescence to attract prey.The anglerfish is the most well known in the Bathypelagic zone for its enormous mouth and a lure that is almost acting like a headlight. It not only have terrifying sharp long teeth on the jaws, but in its throat as well. (Marinebio,
Sabellaria cementarium belongs to the phylum Annelids and is an invertebrate polychaete species. They are found in small clumps at the rocky bottoms of the sea floor where they use the rich source of natural phytoplankton as their primary diet (Qian and Chia, 1990). The tube-like worms can behave social and form extensive reefs or independently build hollow tubes in to the sandstone (pawlik and Chia, 1991). Embryos form a polar lobe that is absorbed in to the blastomeres at the end of division. Larval development and movement follows shortly after the 14-15 hour fertilization period where spiral cleaving of the fertilized oocytes appears (Render, 1983). Much is still not known about the invertebrate worm in their natural niche.
...ost completely degraded. Some dive deep into the water, like a lionfish, bream, viviparous fishes of the family Scorpaenidae and Lake Baikal in some species can dive to 1000 ~ 4000 meters deep, some often floating in the upper, such as six line fish, and Lake Baikal fishes of the family. The fishes swimming are relatively slow, often hidden, not activities or bury the body in the sand, and the type of six line fish families peace Marmora subfamily is good at swimming. The benthic invertebrates and small swimming creatures for food, Scorpaena peeling phenomenon of periodic feeding, more intense, more times, peeling, sometimes even 1 months dulling 2 times. The reproductive season in spring and early summer, six line fish, and some cottidae in the autumn or early winter reproductive, lion fish, fish and Lake Baikal, some species in late winter or early spring spawning.
During the summers the oxygen content atop the water normally has a salinity level consistent with “more than 8 milligrams per liter”; but when oxygen content drops down to “less than 2 milligrams per liter” the water is then known to be in hypoxic state (CENR, 2000; USGS, 2006). Hypoxia is the result of oxygen levels decreasing to the point where aquatic organisms can no longer survive in the water column. Organisms such as fish, shrimps, and crabs are capable to evacuate the area but the fauna that cannot move either become stress and/or die. Due to this, many call the hypoxia zone the “dead zone” (Overview, 2008; USGS, 2006).
Humans have only discovered less than five percent of the ocean, while the ocean makes up seventy percent of our world. Even though we have explored so little of it, we have found very interesting creatures such as giant squids, yeti crabs, and zombie worms. None of these animals are similar in any way, not even their habitats, appearances, or diets. However they use these factors to be able to survive in sometimes extreme conditions.
This research focuses on Gambierdiscus toxicus which is an armored, marine, benthic species in the phylum Dinoflagellata. It has an epitheca and a hypotheca, that is very similar in size, compressed anterio-posteriorly. The theca is covered with numerous deep and dense pores which are very thick. This species is autotrophic creating energy via several golden-brown chloroplasts (Hackett et al 2004), but is also heterotrophic and hence is referred to as mixotrophic. It has a ventrally – oriented crescent shaped nucleus. (Adachi & Fukuyo 1979). It usually inhabits warmer waters such as bay, mediterranian, tropical/sub – tropical in North/Central America (Shiumuzu et al 1982; Loeblich & Indelicato 1986), Asia/Pacific (Holmes & Tao 2002; Lu & Hodgkiss 2004) and has recently been identified in the Mediterranean (Aligizaki & Nikolaidis 2008). These authors identified the organisms to genus level, at best of their effort, so may have been one of the less common members of its genus although it is unlikely.
Well, in defense of the blobfish, it only looks like a blob because it is out of its natural habitat. When it is down on the ocean floor, its gelatinous body helps it survive the great amount of pressure. The pressure is up to 120 times higher than the pressure at the surface. The blobfish has no skeleton, which is necessary to survive in the depths of the
The article, An Ocean Mystery in the Trillions by William J. Broadjune is about information regarding a family of fish named bristle mouths. Divers have discovered the existence of this family of fish as early as 1872, living in deep ocean depths during a sea expedition. The author discusses their unique characteristics such as its ability to change its gender, “bristle like teeth”, and a strategy called counter-illumination that they use to protect themselves from predators. All the fish’s features are essential to their survival from both predators and the environment. Furthermore, there is a large amount of evidence supporting the fact that it is the most found vertebrate on the planet with a possible population of thousands of trillions. Many sea expeditions over the years have been able to confirm their large population. However, questions were raised when scientists solved the mystery of the Deep Scattering Layer during the Cold War for military purposes. The layer was composed of a large amount of sea creatures that caused sonars to determine the area as the seabed. When scientists looked further into what type of sea
Review: The opportunity and endeavor of exploring the Earth’s oceans can reap great rewards for mankind and unravel many of the mysteries that the Earth has left to discover.
The crew threw harpoons at the creature, but those would not stay in the flesh for long. When the crew got close enough to put a noose around the creature, the rope tightened and cut through the animal, causing most of it to sink to the bottom of the sea. The crew, however, managed to pull the tail of the creature on board, and bring it back to the French Consul. From there, the tail and a report about the creature made its way to the French Academy of Sciences. Giant squid, of which there are many different species, have been spotted less than fifty times in the last century, but none have been seen in their natural habitat, the depths of the sea, or caught on tape.
Levvit, Tom. "How Deep-sea Mining Could Destroy the." The Ecologist. N.p., 28 Oct. 2010. Web. 27 Mar. 2014. .
Oceans are such so vast that people underestimate the impact their actions —seeming so insignificant— have on them. Humans have by and large taken the oceans for granted; not considering how important a healthy ocean is to our survival. A popular mind-set is that the oceans are a bottomless supply of fish, natural resources, and an infinite waste dump. There are myriad reasons why the oceans should be saved and the most obvious one is marine life. With 71% of the Earth being covered by water, it is obvious that sea creatures are predominant form of life, making up 80% of the species of life on Earth. However, as important as marine life is, that is not the only reason why saving the oceans is crucial. The ocean floor provides natural resources such as, oil, natural gas, petroleum, minerals, medications, and ingredients for foods and products. The economic benefits of the oceans are huge and significant, as well. Fishing and fish products have provided employment to 38 million people and have generated about $124 billion in economic benefits. However, oceans are on the verge of crisis, marine life, natural resources, transportation, the economy, and important ingredients are at risk due to overfishing, pollution, and acidification. Thus, in this essay I will argue that, oceans are not impervious to human activity and threatening the health of the ocean threatens the health of humanity, since oceans key to our survival.
So what exactly did cavemen eat, and why should you eat like them? Modern man has advanced significantly in food production, we have discovered ways to make food in all shapes and flavors. We have so many options on what to eat, and so many opinions on what’s good for us and what I not good for us. From the consumer view, nutrition is chaotic at best. One day something is good for you, the next it can cause disease. Eggs increase cholesterol, Eggs do not increase your cholesterol. Pizza is a healthy food, Pizza is junk-food. With so many different methods and practices it can get rather confusing. Take the USDA food pyramid for example, his poster can be found in school cafeterias and hospitals across the country. However an article from Scientific American magazine that was written by scientists from the Harvard school of public health was actually condemning the dietary recommendations of the food pyramid. (Cordain & Friel, 2005) At one point and time there were 30 million Americans following the Atkins diet by eating more fat and losing more weight. However in utter contrast Dean Ornish says that fat and meat cause cancer, heart disease and obesity, and that we would all be better off by converting to vegetarianism. (Cordain & Friel, 2005) In other more well-developed scientific disciplines, universal paradigms help guide researchers to informative end points while they design their respective experiments and theories. For example in Geology the continental drift model established that all current continents were at one time joined as one large continuous landmass that eventually drifted apart to form our current continents. These concepts are not theories but undisputed facts that serve as an orientation for other inquiries r...
Vannela, Raveender. "Are We “Digging Our Own Grave” Under the Oceans?" Environmental Science & Technology 46.15 (2012): 7932-933. Print.
depends on the upper deep in the abysmal sea. Lord Tennyson describes about a Kraken
Introduction One particularly interesting sea creature is the whale shark, formally known as Rhincondon typus; it was first discovered in 1828 by Andrew Smith (Rowat 2012). This large fish is found globally in warm tropical oceans and prefers to stay within 200 meters of the ocean’s surface in waters ranging from 4.2 to 28.7 degrees Celsius (Stevens 2006). This creature can be found all across the globe in warm tropical seas. Aggregations of whale sharks have been seen off the coast of Australia at times, although it is primarily a creature of solitude. Whale sharks are filter feeders that consume plankton as well as small fish and are harmless to humans.