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General characteristics of a large marine ecosystem (Gulf of Alaska). Marine life, sea life or ocean life is the collective ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, plants, algae, fungi, protists, single-celled microorganisms and associated viruses living in the saline water of marine habitats, either the sea water of marginal seas and oceans, or the brackish water of coastal ...
A whale fall occurs when the carcass of a whale has fallen onto the ocean floor, typically at a depth greater than 1,000 m (3,300 ft), putting them in the bathyal or abyssal zones. [1] On the sea floor, these carcasses can create complex localized ecosystems that supply sustenance to deep-sea organisms for decades. [1]
Marine ecosystems can be divided into many zones depending upon water depth and shoreline features. The oceanic zone is the vast open part of the ocean where animals such as whales, sharks, and tuna live. The benthic zone consists of substrates below water where many
Whales are fully aquatic, open-ocean animals: they can feed, mate, give birth, suckle and raise their young at sea. Whales range in size from the 2.6 metres (8.5 ft) and 135 kilograms (298 lb) dwarf sperm whale to the 29.9 metres (98 ft) and 190 tonnes (210 short tons) blue whale , which is the largest known animal that has ever lived.
The deep trenches or fissures that plunge down thousands of meters below the ocean floor (for example, the mid-oceanic trenches such as the Mariana Trench in the Pacific) are almost unexplored. [6] Previously, only the bathyscaphe Trieste , the remote control submarine Kaikō and the Nereus have been able to descend to these depths.
For example, dolphins and whales are completely dependent on the marine environment for all stages of their life; seals feed in the ocean but breed on land; and polar bears must feed on land. [ 7 ] The cetaceans became aquatic around 50 million years ago (mya). [ 10 ]
Their preferred diet is primarily deep-water squid, [11] but also benthic and benthopelagic fish and some crustaceans, mostly taken near the sea floor. [36] In a recent study, gouge marks in the sea floor were interpreted to be a result of feeding activities by beaked whales.
Elevation-area graph showing the proportion of land area at given heights and the proportion of ocean area at given depths See also: Pelagic fish The open ocean is relatively unproductive because of a lack of nutrients, yet because it is so vast, it has more overall primary production than any other marine habitat.
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