Ocean Habitat

According to a census in 2010, almost 60 million people went to a beach that year. People love the beach and the ocean, but many people don’t take the time to consider what lives and happens down under in the deep blue waters.

There are about a million species of animals that get to call the beautiful ocean their home. All of the animals that live in the ocean differ greatly, including some of the smallest animals like zooplankton, to the largest mammal on earth- the blue whale. The ocean also teems with plant life such as algae, phytoplankton, seaweed, and kelp.

The Earth received the nickname “Blue Planet” because almost 75% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water. The ocean is the largest of all of the biomes on Earth. It has its own unique biodiversity and subset of ecosystems.

So, what is the ocean? National Geographic describes it best: “Oceans are areas of salty water that fill enormous basins on the Earths surface.” The ocean is divided into 5 different sections- the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, the Antarctic (also known as the Southern), and the Arctic. The Pacific Ocean is the worlds largest ocean, containing around 25,000 islands. As many people know, oceans are huge, but most people don’t realize how big they really are. They are not only wide, but they are very deep. On average, an ocean is a little over two miles deep, but the deepest part of the ocean- southwest of Guam- is nearly seven miles deep.

Oceans also help keep Earth’s climate habitable by moving water around the globe, making sure that places don’t get too hot or too cold. Oceans help keep the planet warm. National Geographic says, “In the same way that hot water in a bathtub stays warm longer than hot chocolate in a small cup, the vast amount of warm water stores heat in the ocean. Then ocean currents carry that heat around the planet.”

There are several factors that can determine the types of plants and animals living in an area of the ocean, or their habitats. This would include temperature, ocean depth, and distance from the shore.

The ocean is a large habitat, but it can be split into different smaller habitats, such as coral reefs, kelp forests, mangroves, salt marshes, seagrasses, and estuaries. Ocean habitats can be divided into two: costal and open ocean habitats. In each smaller subset, the different animals and plant life have learned to adapt and survive. Some areas are shallow, sunny, and warm, while others are deep, dark, and cold. National Park Service explains it best: “Plant and animal species are able to adapt to certain habitat conditions, including movement of water, amount of light, temperature, water pressure, nutrients, availability of food, and saltiness of water.” National Park Service also explains that “Most ocean life can be found in coastal habitats on the continental shelf, even if this area occupies only 7% of the total ocean area. Most of the open ocean habitats are found in the deep ocean beyond the edge of the continental shelf.”

The ocean can be divided up into three layers or zones. These layers are called light zones because they are based on how much sunlight each area receives. Here are the three different layers described by Ducksters Education Site:

• Sunlit/Euphotic Zone — This is the top layer of the ocean and it gets the most sunlight. The depth varies, but averages around 600 feet deep. The sunlight provides energy to the ocean organisms through photosynthesis. It feeds plants as well as small little organisms called plankton. Plankton are very important in the ocean because they provide the food basis for much of the rest of ocean life. As a result, around 90% of ocean life lives in the sunlit zone.
• Twilight/Disphotic Zone — The twilight zone is the middle zone in the ocean. It runs from about 600 feet deep to around 3,000 feet deep depending on how murky the water is. There is too little sunlight for plants to live here. Animals that live here have adapted to living with little light. Some of these animals can produce their own light through a chemical reaction called bioluminescence.
• Midnight/Aphotic Zone — Below 3,000 feet or so is the midnight zone. There is no light here, it is completely dark. The water pressure is extremely high and it is very cold. Only a few animals have adapted to live in these extreme conditions. They live off of bacteria that get their energy from cracks in the Earth at the bottom of the ocean. Around 90% of the ocean is in this zone.

There are many animals that live in the ocean, but here are just a few: sharks, swordfish, tuna, clown fish, grouper, stingray, flatfish, eels, rockfish, seahorse, sunfish mola, gars, blue whales, seals, walruses, dolphins, manatees, otters, octopus, cuttlefish, clams, conch, squids, oysters, slugs, and snails.

Ducksters Education Site explains plant life in the ocean by saying, “There are thousands of species of plants that live in the ocean. They rely on photosynthesis from the sun for energy. Plants in the ocean are extremely important to all life on planet earth. Algae in the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide and provides much of the Earth’s oxygen.”

Here are some interesting facts about the ocean!

• over 90% of the life on Earth lives in the ocean
• the average depth of the ocean is 12,400 feet
• around 90% of all volcanic activity takes place in the world’s oceans
• the Mariana Trench is the deepest point in the ocean at 36,000 feet deep
• the largest animal on Earth, the blue whale, lives in the ocean
• humans get most of their protein by eating fish from the ocean
• the average temperature of the ocean is around 39 degrees Fahrenheit

In conclusion, oceans are big, beautiful areas that we need to appreciate, as well as take care of so that ocean habitats can stay clean.

Resources:

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/nature/habitats/ocean/#coral-reef-fish.jpg

Ocean Habitats - Oceans (U.S. National Park Service)

https://www.ducksters.com/science/ecosystems/marine_biome.php