![]() Open ocean heterotrophs include bacteria as well as more complex single- and multi-celled " zooplankton" (floating animals), " nekton" (swimming organisms, including fish and marine mammals), and the " benthos" (the seafloor community of organisms). Phytoplankton are " photoautotrophs," harvesting light to convert inorganic to organic carbon, and they supply this organic carbon to diverse " heterotrophs," organisms that obtain their energy solely from the respiration of organic matter. It is in this region that we start to see bioluminescent fish and all sorts of bizarre looking fish.Ocean productivity largely refers to the production of organic matter by " phytoplankton," plants suspended in the ocean, most of which are single-celled. Larger fish like, whales and giant squid dive to these depths to feed. The light that reaches this zone is pretty faint. This zone extends from 700 feet down to about 3,280 feet. Photoplankton is responsible for almost half of the earth’s oxygen released in the atmosphere. Most marine animals live in this zone and feed off of photoplankton (the basis of the ocean food chain) and smaller fish. ![]() This is where the wide range of temperatures occur. This is where most of the visible light is and with light comes heat. This zone extends from the surface down to about 700 feet. The sunlight zone, the twilight zone, the midnight zone, the abyss and the trenches. The ocean water column is made up of 5 zones. In this blog, we will explore the layers of the ocean and what types of marine life resides in those layers. It is because of these elements that certain sections of the ocean only contain certain marine animals. In fact, sections of the water column in the ocean are differentiated by pressure, light, temperature, oxygen and mineral nutrients. ![]() Since the ocean is on average 3 miles deep, it may not surprise you that the water column is not uniform. In a previous blog, we talked about the depth of the ocean.
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