

How deep is the abyssal zone?Īnimals of the Abyssopelagic Zone Animals capable of living at these depths include some species of squid, such as the deep-water squid, and octopus. It also includes sharks and invertebrates such as squid, shrimp, sea spiders, sea stars, and other crustaceans. The life that is found in the Abyssal Zone includes chemosynthetic bacteria, tubeworms, and small fish that are dark in color or transparent. In fact, from a zoological point of view, abyssal creatures is considered to be all the fauna that lives below a depth of 200 metres, as few species are capable of living beyond 1,000 metres. Soft-bodied, fragile, and often transparent, jellyfish often look like umbrellas or bells with tentacles around the edge or. Hundreds of jellyfish species live in every part of the ocean and belong to the same animal group as corals and sea anemones.

which sink and are eaten by deep sea animals or when contaminated dead organisms and particles. Jellyfish are a type of zooplankton that both drift in the ocean and have some swimming ability. Abyssopelagic Zone: This zone is also called the Abyssal Zone or the Abyss derived from the Greek word meaning bottomless sea. What are abyssal organisms?ĭue to scarcity of oxygen, abyssal plains are inhospitable for organisms that would flourish in the oxygen-enriched waters above. Here, in the sunniest part of the ocean, the water is warming up and getting more acidic. Instead of one, giant creature that moved up and down the water column, it turned out to be countless small creatures in their daily migration from deep water protection to feeding in shallower water at night.

The abyssal zone supports many species of invertebrate species and fishes. As an adaptation to the aphotic environment, the deep-sea squid is transparent and also uses photophores to lure prey and deter predators. Is there life in the abyssopelagic zone?Īnimals of the Abyssopelagic Zone Animals capable of living at these depths include some species of squid, such as the deep-water squid, and octopus. These may be in dense communities, feeding on detrital organic material sinking to the sea floor from the water column. The most abundant and species-rich component of the bathyal fauna is small infaunal invertebrates, predominantly polychaetes, nematodes, foraminifers, crustaceans, and bivalved molluscs. Animals that commonly occur in abyssal sediments include molluscs, worms (nematodes, sipunculids, polychaetes, hemichordates and vestimentiferans) and echinoderms (holothuroids, asteroids, ophiuroids, echinoids, and crinoids).
