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The photic zone (or euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone) is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological processes that supply nutrients into the upper water column. The photic zone is home to the majority ...
Aquatic ecosystems. Wild fisheries. v. t. e. The aphotic zone (aphotic from Greek prefix ἀ- + φῶς "without light") is the portion of a lake or ocean where there is little or no sunlight. It is formally defined as the depths beyond which less than 1 percent of sunlight penetrates. Above the aphotic zone is the photic zone, which consists ...
[3] [7] Lakes are divided into photic and aphotic regions, the prior receiving sunlight and latter being below the depths of light penetration, making it void of photosynthetic capacity. [2] In relation to lake zonation, the pelagic and benthic zones are considered to lie within the photic region, while the profundal zone is in the aphotic ...
Mesopelagic zone. The twilight zone (Greek μέσον, middle), also known as the middle pelagic or mesopelagic, is the part of the pelagic zone that lies between the photic epipelagic and the aphotic bathypelagic zones. [1] It is defined by light, and begins at the depth where only 1% of incident light reaches and ends where there is no light ...
Limnetic zone. The limnetic zone is the open and well-lit area of a freestanding body of fresh water, such as a lake or pond. Not included in this area is the littoral zone, which is the shallow, near-shore area of the water body. The key difference between the littoral zone and the limnetic zone is the presence of rooted plant growth. [1]
The profundal zone is the deep zone of a lake, located below the range of effective light penetration. This is typically below the thermocline, the vertical zone in the water through which temperature drops rapidly. The temperature difference may be large enough to hamper mixing with the littoral zone in some seasons which causes a decrease in ...
The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately 200 meters (660 ft) in depth. [1][2] From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated environment for marine life, from plankton up to large fish and corals ...
Extending from the bottom of the photic zone down to the seabed is the aphotic zone, a region of perpetual darkness. [8] [9] Since the average depth of the ocean is about 3688 meters, [10] the photic zone represents only a tiny fraction of the ocean's total volume.