http://guardianofsea.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
guardianofsea.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
smash_logs2009-01-07 04:18 am
guardianofsea.livejournal.com) wrote in smash_logs2009-01-07 04:18 am
Marine Science #5 - Aquatic Layers
*The classroom is in the same blue hue as before. This time there was a huge poster taped onto the white board. He didn't leave a lot of space for him to write out important notes, since he knew he'd even lose track of time with his wall-of-text. As students come into the class, they could see that they were up for an actual lecture of note-taking if they notice the batch of paper Lugia has in his hands as he looked through them.
*He looks up and smiles as the class settles down and starts speaking.*
Greetings class, I do hope you all had a pleasant winter break! I, unfortunately, caught a cold during the break and had been stuck in my room for the last week or so. It wasn't the best experience I must say...!
Today, we will study the aquatic levels of the sea. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to explain without actually going out into the ocean, so I will try to be brief with the explanations. Of course, that does not mean you can be lazy today! This material will come up in the future, for I am planning to have an outdoor classroom session along with a written report of at least three pages as your final grade. ((No, not really. Lugia just wants to talk.))
*Lugia clears his throat and gets into the topic.*
The overall aquatic layer is called the Pelagic zone. Commonly, this is called the open-ocean zone and consists of all the water near the coast or on the continental shelf. This zone occupies 1,370 million cubic kilometers and has a vertical range of up to 11 kilometers. The fish that live in this zone is called "pelagic fish," and pelagic life decreases with the increasing depth. This layer consists of two zones, benthic and demersal. I will not go into detail regarding these two zones. If you wish, you can research about them and write up a report for extra credit.
*He takes a small break at this point and walks over to the previously stated poster that was taped onto the white board.*
The first layer is photic zone, or euphotic zone. As the Greek word, euphotic, meaning "well lit," depicts, this depth of water is exposed to sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis to occur. It is also called the Epipelagic layer. This layer can also be named to lakes. This layer is also the only layer where photosynthesis occurs, so about 90% of marine life exists in this layer. Small fishes that feed off of plankton, as well as large fishes such as tuna, sharks, dolphin fish, and jelly fish are amount this group. This layer goes down to about 200 meters (about 650 feet), a rather tiny proportion considering the overall ocean depth, as you can see on this diagram... This is understandable, for sunlight does get blocked out rather easily with how dense water can become as you go deeper!
The layer beneath the photic zone is the mesopelagic layer, which apparently means "middle" in Greek. The layer begins from just about where the photic layer ends and down to 1000 meters. Light does continue into this layer, but it is not enough for photosynthesis to occur. Of course, with light starting dim away, temperature changes rather drastically as you go lower in this layer, ranging from 20 degrees Celsius at the top of the layer and down to merely 4 degrees Celsius at the edge intersecting with the next layer. Larger sea animals live in this layer such as swordfish and squids. But, of course, this area is not completely dark; the light is enough for some animals such as the chain cat shark to be fluorescent. Chain cat sharks tend to have a brown hue for their body, but it is quite magnificent to see them in a different color!
The next layer is called the bathyal zone, or bathypelagic, meaning "deep." This layer ranges from 1000 to 4000 meters below the ocean surface and averages the temperature of four degrees Celsius. This area is considerably larger than the photic layer, but less densely populated, if I may say so. No sunlight reaches this zone, which means there is no primary production, and from this aspect this layer is also known to be the "midnight zone." With no light, eyesight is not required for many sea creatures other than the viper fish and the frill shark. The rest of the population do not have eyes! Quite unnerving to see those with no eyes...
Creatures such as squids, large whales, and octopuses also live in this zone; it is difficult for fishes to live. One may witness more of the sponges and sea stars populating this area. Fishes that in fact do live in this layer are more energy efficient and may even have slow metabolic rates to conserve energy. Because they must not move as much as they can to conserve energy, their muscles are weak and have soft skin and slimy bodies... or so the human say. I have encountered these beings in sea, but being underwater, it is quite difficult to know how they feel like. They do have soft skin though!
Next is the abyssal zone, or the abyssopelagic layer, coming from "Abyss," which means "bottomless sea" in Greek terminology. Of course, that is not the truth when it comes to actually being bottomless, although there are various deep trenches in the sea floor. This layer goes from 4,000 to 6,000 meters under sea level. Of course, now that one has gotten this deep into the water, there is absolutely no light at all. One may be able to say that this place can be a frightening place to dwell in since you cannot see anything.
The inhabitants of this layer which includes the tripod fish, giant squid, and the deep-sea angler fish. At this point, the pressure is well over what a human being can withstand... Although in my case, it feels like there is lead weighing down my entire back and wings while I am down there... The creatures mainly have under-slung jaws to go through the sand and catch food...much like those...hmm, what were they called...? Shovel machines...that humans use for construction..!
The temperature usually are around 2 to 3 degrees Celsius, although when you get close to the equator it can go up to about 13 to 15 degrees Celsius. Overall, this area is too cold, and to add the lack of nutrients to that, there are scarce life in this area.
The last, but not the least, layer is the Hadal zone, the Greek word for "Hades," or Hadopelagic zone. These are the trenches that are formed under the abyssal zone. Pressure is greater in these trenches, and the inhabitants that live in these parts are limited to the area they are in, for they would die if they were to go into areas that have lower pressure. Most common creatures include viper fish, jellyfish, tube worms, clams, and deep-sea angler fish. The tube worms...are quite grotesque.
But I must say, these trenches can go down very deep! As a being dwelling in this area the majority of the time, diving into these trenches is the only excitement there is, other than looking at ruined ships that had sunk eons ago... Quite fascinating how deep some of these trenches are; there is one that took me an entire day to reach the bottom! I was starving by the time I came back out!
*Lugia looks at the clock for the first time ever since he started talking and is surprised to see that the class is almost over. He had more things to talk about, but he probably wouldn't be able to talk about it awww.*
...Oh my, how time flies! I do hope you have taken good notes of the zones... I am planning to do a joint class session with Professor Goroh to operate submarines in the future so students are able to see how the sea is like! I do need to ask Mister Goroh if he would like to do a joint session... The date is not set as of yet. Once I do get a confirmation, I will leave up a notice!
((Great thanks to the wonders of Wikipedia |D ...I am not staying up til 4 in the morning to type Lugia's classes up anymore >:|))
*He looks up and smiles as the class settles down and starts speaking.*
Greetings class, I do hope you all had a pleasant winter break! I, unfortunately, caught a cold during the break and had been stuck in my room for the last week or so. It wasn't the best experience I must say...!
Today, we will study the aquatic levels of the sea. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to explain without actually going out into the ocean, so I will try to be brief with the explanations. Of course, that does not mean you can be lazy today! This material will come up in the future, for I am planning to have an outdoor classroom session along with a written report of at least three pages as your final grade. ((No, not really. Lugia just wants to talk.))
*Lugia clears his throat and gets into the topic.*
The overall aquatic layer is called the Pelagic zone. Commonly, this is called the open-ocean zone and consists of all the water near the coast or on the continental shelf. This zone occupies 1,370 million cubic kilometers and has a vertical range of up to 11 kilometers. The fish that live in this zone is called "pelagic fish," and pelagic life decreases with the increasing depth. This layer consists of two zones, benthic and demersal. I will not go into detail regarding these two zones. If you wish, you can research about them and write up a report for extra credit.
*He takes a small break at this point and walks over to the previously stated poster that was taped onto the white board.*
The first layer is photic zone, or euphotic zone. As the Greek word, euphotic, meaning "well lit," depicts, this depth of water is exposed to sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis to occur. It is also called the Epipelagic layer. This layer can also be named to lakes. This layer is also the only layer where photosynthesis occurs, so about 90% of marine life exists in this layer. Small fishes that feed off of plankton, as well as large fishes such as tuna, sharks, dolphin fish, and jelly fish are amount this group. This layer goes down to about 200 meters (about 650 feet), a rather tiny proportion considering the overall ocean depth, as you can see on this diagram... This is understandable, for sunlight does get blocked out rather easily with how dense water can become as you go deeper!
The layer beneath the photic zone is the mesopelagic layer, which apparently means "middle" in Greek. The layer begins from just about where the photic layer ends and down to 1000 meters. Light does continue into this layer, but it is not enough for photosynthesis to occur. Of course, with light starting dim away, temperature changes rather drastically as you go lower in this layer, ranging from 20 degrees Celsius at the top of the layer and down to merely 4 degrees Celsius at the edge intersecting with the next layer. Larger sea animals live in this layer such as swordfish and squids. But, of course, this area is not completely dark; the light is enough for some animals such as the chain cat shark to be fluorescent. Chain cat sharks tend to have a brown hue for their body, but it is quite magnificent to see them in a different color!
The next layer is called the bathyal zone, or bathypelagic, meaning "deep." This layer ranges from 1000 to 4000 meters below the ocean surface and averages the temperature of four degrees Celsius. This area is considerably larger than the photic layer, but less densely populated, if I may say so. No sunlight reaches this zone, which means there is no primary production, and from this aspect this layer is also known to be the "midnight zone." With no light, eyesight is not required for many sea creatures other than the viper fish and the frill shark. The rest of the population do not have eyes! Quite unnerving to see those with no eyes...
Creatures such as squids, large whales, and octopuses also live in this zone; it is difficult for fishes to live. One may witness more of the sponges and sea stars populating this area. Fishes that in fact do live in this layer are more energy efficient and may even have slow metabolic rates to conserve energy. Because they must not move as much as they can to conserve energy, their muscles are weak and have soft skin and slimy bodies... or so the human say. I have encountered these beings in sea, but being underwater, it is quite difficult to know how they feel like. They do have soft skin though!
Next is the abyssal zone, or the abyssopelagic layer, coming from "Abyss," which means "bottomless sea" in Greek terminology. Of course, that is not the truth when it comes to actually being bottomless, although there are various deep trenches in the sea floor. This layer goes from 4,000 to 6,000 meters under sea level. Of course, now that one has gotten this deep into the water, there is absolutely no light at all. One may be able to say that this place can be a frightening place to dwell in since you cannot see anything.
The inhabitants of this layer which includes the tripod fish, giant squid, and the deep-sea angler fish. At this point, the pressure is well over what a human being can withstand... Although in my case, it feels like there is lead weighing down my entire back and wings while I am down there... The creatures mainly have under-slung jaws to go through the sand and catch food...much like those...hmm, what were they called...? Shovel machines...that humans use for construction..!
The temperature usually are around 2 to 3 degrees Celsius, although when you get close to the equator it can go up to about 13 to 15 degrees Celsius. Overall, this area is too cold, and to add the lack of nutrients to that, there are scarce life in this area.
The last, but not the least, layer is the Hadal zone, the Greek word for "Hades," or Hadopelagic zone. These are the trenches that are formed under the abyssal zone. Pressure is greater in these trenches, and the inhabitants that live in these parts are limited to the area they are in, for they would die if they were to go into areas that have lower pressure. Most common creatures include viper fish, jellyfish, tube worms, clams, and deep-sea angler fish. The tube worms...are quite grotesque.
But I must say, these trenches can go down very deep! As a being dwelling in this area the majority of the time, diving into these trenches is the only excitement there is, other than looking at ruined ships that had sunk eons ago... Quite fascinating how deep some of these trenches are; there is one that took me an entire day to reach the bottom! I was starving by the time I came back out!
*Lugia looks at the clock for the first time ever since he started talking and is surprised to see that the class is almost over. He had more things to talk about, but he probably wouldn't be able to talk about it awww.*
...Oh my, how time flies! I do hope you have taken good notes of the zones... I am planning to do a joint class session with Professor Goroh to operate submarines in the future so students are able to see how the sea is like! I do need to ask Mister Goroh if he would like to do a joint session... The date is not set as of yet. Once I do get a confirmation, I will leave up a notice!
((Great thanks to the wonders of Wikipedia |D ...I am not staying up til 4 in the morning to type Lugia's classes up anymore >:|))