Ocean Zones

Include Intertidal zone, neritic zone, and the open ocean zone.

Ocean Zones

Highest tide on land is where it begins.

From there the zone stretches out to the point on the continental shelf exposed by the lowest tide.

Intertidal Zone

Extents from the low tide line out to the edge of the continental shelf

Neritic Zone

Beyond the continental shelf lies open ocean zone

Zone is the deepest, darkest part of the ocean

Open Ocean Zone

Most live near the surface

Scientists classify marine organisms according to where they live and how they move

Organisms

Are tiny algae and animals that float in the water and are carried by waves and currents.

Include geometrically shaped diatoms

Plankton

Free swimming animals that can move throughout the water column

Squid, most fishes, and marine mammals such as whales and seals.

Nekton

Are organisms that inhabit the ocean floor.

Crab, sea stars, octopus and lobsters are examples.

Benthos

Organisms that live in the rocky intertidal zone must be able to tolerate the pounding of waves, salinity, and temp

Must also withstand periods of being underwater and exposed to air.

Intertidal zone

An environment along the oceans edge

Is a coastal inlet or bay where fresh water from a river mixes with salty ocean water.

Water is known as brackish.

Estuary

Are habitats found in and around estuaries

Along the US coasts, most wetlands are either mangrove forests or salt marshes.

Coastal Wetlands

Have muddy soil that is rich in nutrients and dominant plant is cordgrass

Tide channels running through the grass break up waves, thus protecting organism from the ocean surf

Salt Marshes

Have arching prop roots that anchor the trees to the land

Roots break up wind and waves protecting organism that live there

Roots also trap sediment so water is rich in nutrients

Mangroves

Extends from low tide out to the edge of the continental shelf

Hallow water over the continental shelf receives sunlight and a steady supply of nutrients washed from the land into the ocean

Neritic Zone

Are coral reefs and kelp forests

Habitats in Neritic Zone

Can from only in shallow tropical ocean waters

Produce a hard material around their soft bodies

When they die hard materials is left behind

Coral Reefs

Grow in cold neritic waters where the ocean has a rocky floor

Kelp Forests

Begins where the nertic zone ends, at the end of the continental shelf

Only a small part of the open ocean receives sunlight

Has fewer nutrients.

Open Ocean

Surface zone is the only part of the open ocean that receives enough sunlight to support algae

Microscopic organisms are the base of food webs in the open ocean

Surface Zone

Dark and cold Many deep sea

fishes produce their own light called bioluminescence.

Deep Ocean

Located in the deep zone

Is an area in which heated ocean water rises through the cracks of ocean floor

Chemical nutrients in the heated water support unique organisms.

Hydrothermal Vent