Layers of the Ocean | Deep Sea Zones

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NATURAL WORLD FACTS

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Whale-fall ecosystems

Most nutrients in the deep sea are supplied by a steady stream of organic debris, known as marine snow.

Occasionally, a whale carcass will sink to the seabed, and can support a complex biological community for up to 50 years.

They are momentary islands of life on the otherwise barren sea floor.

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submarine port hole

The Deep Sea Zones

The deep sea is divided into zones, each home to an array of uniquely specialised life.

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The sunlight zone

Epipelagic Zone | 0 - 700 ft (200m)

The twilight zone

Mesopelagic Zone | 700 - 3,300 ft (1,000m)

giant squid

Giant Squid

2,000 feet (610m) deep

This cephalopod exhibits the phenomenon of deep sea gigantism. The largest of these elusive leviathans ever found was 59 feet in length and weighed nearly a ton.

Coelacanth

2,300 feet (700m)

The coelacanth was thought to have gone extinct 65 million years ago, during the great extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs. They were rediscovered in 1939.

coelacanth fish

ocean sunfish mola mola

Ocean Sunfish

2,600 feet (800m)

The wonderfully weird Mola mola is the world's largest bony fish. To move its large, cumbersome body, it wiggles its large fins and steers with the crest-like clavus at its back.

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Giant Oarfish

3,300 feet (1,000m)

An elusive creature, on account of it living so deep down in the ocean, that has rarely been observed in the wild. It is the world's longest bony, reaching a length of 56 feet (17 meters).

These creatures are capable of doing something incredible. When they are threatened, they release the lower portion of their tails in an act of 'autotomy', allowing the oarfish to flee.

Vampire Squid

3,000 feet (915m)

This is evolution's near perfect solution to the inhospitable conditions of the deep sea. The vampire squid has large eyes for absorbing sunlight, a highly slowed metabolism, and bioluminescent lures on the ends of its tentacles.

vampire squid from hell

The midnight zone

Bathypelagic Zone | 3,300 - 13,100 ft (4,000m)

great white shark attack

Great White

3,900 feet (1,200m)

Great white sharks are not always found at these depths. However, studies have revealed that they frequent the midnight zone to take advantage of the surprising abundance of prey.

greenland shark sleeper shark

Greenland Shark

7,200 feet (2,200m)

The Greenland or sleeper shark is the most eery-looking deep sea wonder. With blind white eyes, and rough dark skin, they truly look like living fossils. They outlive all other vertebrates on Earth, with lifespans close to 500 years.

Siphonophores

7,550 feet (2,300m)

Though they may look like single organisms, these drifting translucent blobs are actually colonies made up of thousands of tiny zooids. The zooids specialise to fulfil a specific role in the colony, meaning each kind of zooid relies on the others in order to survive. It is a bioluminescent vessel of life, drifting in the deep sea.

siphonophore

siphonophore

chimaera ghost shark rabbitfish

Ghost Shark

8,500 feet (2,600m)

Also known as chimaera, these deep sea fish demonstrate that the deeper you go, the weirder life becomes. With fins like bird wings, a large head, and dead-looking eyes, they exhibit a truly unique morphology that dates back 300 million years.

The abyss

Abyssopelagic Zone | 13,100 - 19,700 ft (6,000m)

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Megamouth Shark

15,000 feet (4,600m)

Megamouths spend most of their lives in the dark of the Abyss, only returning to the surface at night to feed. They are filter feeders, and in order to survive in the deep where food is scarce, they grow to enormous sizes in order to become more efficient. This is known as deep sea gigantism.

More topics

Whale-fall ecosystems

Most nutrients in the deep sea are supplied by a steady stream of organic debris, known as marine snow.

Occasionally, a whale carcass will sink to the seabed, and can support a complex biological community for up to 50 years.

They are momentary islands of life on the otherwise barren sea floor.

LEARN MORE

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