Transcript Document
Life in the Deep Oceans Oceans And some other things … Currents Mix Up The Oceans The Oceans are connected. Is there Life in the Deep Oceans? Deep Life? Why not? Because life needs oxygen or sunlight • No Sunlight below 600 feet! • It's Cold! - Like your Refrigerator • Animals -- even fish -- need Oxygen! But the Answer is … YES - There is Life everywhere in the Oceans! H.M.S. Challenger Expedition, Dec. 1872- May 1876 On the web at: 19thcenturyscience.org How Can That Be? How Can there be life in the Deep Ocean? • Oxygen is carried deep by the global ocean currents. • Food rains down from the surface. The ocean waters are filled with small plants and animals called plankton. When they die their bodies sink down to the ocean floor. Plankton A look at some Microscopic Plankton Diatoms -- Microscopic plants with glass (sand) skeletons that live near the surface. Forams (foraminifera) -- Microscopic animals with calcium skeletons Starsand foram Radiolaria -- Microscopic animals with glass (sand) skeletons Foram in a needle's eye (magnified) Challenger Plankton Plankton from the Challenger Expedition Deep Water Squid and Octopus have eyes! WHY? Why Eyes? Octopus The eyes of squid and octopus Deep water squid are very similar to human eyes! Bioluminescence Bioluminescence Many deep water animals make their own light! QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. Light in the deep - squid Deep water Squid showing lights on suckers Light in the deep - Medusa Deep water medusa Medusa light-show viewed from below More Lights More Deep Sea Lights Starfish Squid Anglefish Bottom animals BOTTOM ANIMALS •Sponges •Hydras •Sea-lilys •Sea Urchins •Anemones •Corals •Tubeworms •Starfish •Crabs •Crayfish •Shrimp All pictures are from the H.M.S. Challenger Voyage of Exploration. Clams Snails & Worms MORE BOTTOM DWELLERS Clams Snails &Worms •Clams and other shelled animals •Snails •Worms All pictures are from the H.M.S. Challenger Voyage of Exploration. Jellyfish MORE BOTTOM DWELLERS Jellyfish and Medusas Octopus MORE BOTTOM DWELLERS Octopus and Squid Octopus Escape An Octopus Escape! QuickTime™ and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. The advantage of being an invertebrate! Swimmers SWIMMERS Arctic Blockage Deep Water Barrier to the Arctic Next talk: The shape of the Ocean Floor Ocean Basins and what that means to animal life How the ocean bottom changes shape The volcanic zones and tectonic plates Coral Reefs and Volcanic islands.