#epipelagic

[barstoolblues]

transient orcas at the labs today. photos from my friends camera

[earthstory]

Marine Environment and Ocean Zones

The world’s oceans are an infinitely complex assemblage of structures and processes. In order to try to make sense of them, some simple divisions are needed. Oceans occupy depressions, or basins, in Earth’s surface. The margins of these basins are an extension of the adjacent landmasses. As a result, there is a continental shelf at the margins of ocean basins and this is covered by relatively shallow seas. Most ocean life is formed in this zone.

The outer most edge of the continental shelf slopes down steeply to the much deeper ocean floor and the oceanic crustal plate. In this deep part of the oceanic basin, tectonic-plate processes have shaped the topography of the sediment-covered sea floor. This ranges from long, rugged ridges to enormous expanses of flat abyssal plains with even deeper trenches and arcs of volcanic islands at geologically active margins (check out the amazing Nat Geo documentary link at the bottom). Huge current systems, driven by solar heating, transport heat and chemicals around Earth’s oceans, and affect the weather over the oceans and on land (check out the link ‘perpetual Ocean”).

Oceans are a three-dimensional environment and the specific terminology used to describe the different parts of the oceans reflects this. The most basic distinction is between seafloor features and processes that are described as benthic, and those in the water itself, or water column, which are called pelagic features or processes. Moving horizontally out from the shore, the only boundary is at the top of the continental slope. The shallower inshore portion is known as the neritic zone, while the zone beyond this point is known as the oceanic realm. Within the neritic zone, the littoral zone occupies the shore between the tides. This is bordered by the supralittoral above high water and sublittoral below low tide. The zone from high water to the shelf break is the subneritic.

Within the water column, the pelagic zone has several layers. In the surface epipelagic (sunlight) zone there is sufficient light for photosynthesis. In the mesopelagic (twilight) zone surface light starts to disappear. In the dysphotic zone, animals can see in available light, but plants cannot photosynthesize. No surface light reaches the dark bathyal (midnight) and abyssal zones, or the hadal zone in the deepest trenches. Check out the links for more specific information on zones and awesome documentaries.

~ JM

Photo Credit: www.seasky.org

More Info:

Layers of the Ocean: http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/ocean-layers.html Ocean Education: http://education.nationalgeographic.com.au/education/encyclopedia/ocean/?ar_a=1 NOAA Ocean Zones, pdf: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/curriculum/section5.pdf Drain the Ocean, National Geographic documentary:http://www.natgeotv.com/int/drain-the-oceans/videos Perpetual Ocean. NASA Visualization of Ocean Currents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNJxBLFcFXk&index=110&list=FLL7ZjR8vIF6lmF7a20iuEqA James Cameron’s DEEPSEA CHALLENGE – Nat Geo Explorer Expedition: http://www.deepseachallenge.com/; YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE2D663ECCE7D60B6&feature=plcp

[barstoolblues]

who is your faborite ocean girl…

thank you for asking :D I love dorid nudibranchs they are the ideal shape for animal. they look like a cartoon mouse made of jelly but their "ears" are actually rhinophores, which are kinda like what they smell with! and their tail is actually their gills! also nudis are hermaphroditic in that they have both male and female reproductive organs at all times as adults instead of being able to switch between so they are literally all nonbinary.

(species shown: monterrey dorid, blood-spot dorid, nanaimo horned dorid, cockerell's dorid, pink dorid, spotted leopard dorid)

look how squishy they are :) I have 2 sea lemons and a spotted leopard in my lab that im currently taking care of so they are dear to me :)

technically sea bunnies are dorids but there are so many more and they are so cute.

also they lay squishy eggs in spirals attached to rocks which look SO COOL

[barstoolblues]

and they say tumblrinas cant deploy ocean bottom seismometers 😌

[markerslinger]

TAKE A DEEP BREATH! 

We’re going to DEEP WATER this week! Thanks to @polishcodex for submitting this week’s theme!

-M

[barstoolblues]

also the largest red dendronotid nudibranch ive ever seen in my life

[barstoolblues]

MY living, motile, dorid nudibranch veliger larvae, raised from eggs laid by my lab tank breeding pair. [if you know anything about captive nudibranch breeding this is a major flex btw]

[bobadookk]

[Image description: 

drawing of a mermaid in a coral reef teeming with fish. it is blowing bubbles from its nose. the mermaid has plant life growing on its left arm, and some plant life growing from its right shoulder- it doesn’t have a right arm. it has pieces of shell on its face and chest. it has gills on its jaw, ribcage, and throat. it has long flowing hair pulled back into a ponytail. its breasts are partially concealed by two starfish resting on its nipples. its eyebrows connect in the middle and its eyes are looking at the viewer. its ear is a small hole indent. somewhere in the drawing is a hidden merkitty. 

end description.]

Coral reef mermaids are brightly colored to blend in with their environment. For now you’ll have to settle for imagining it because I got bored trying to color it in.