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GOING EVEN DEEPER… …THE ABYSS

GOING EVEN DEEPER… …THE ABYSS. Where are we looking?. Bathypelagic and Abyssopelagic NO SUN LIGHT. http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=8101vCjM7nY. Who lives here?. Bristlemouths & Anglerfish Gulpers and swallowers Fish still small; bigger than mesopelagic Put all energy toward growth

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GOING EVEN DEEPER… …THE ABYSS

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  1. GOING EVEN DEEPER……THE ABYSS

  2. Where are we looking? • Bathypelagic and Abyssopelagic • NO SUN LIGHT

  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8101vCjM7nY

  4. Who lives here? • Bristlemouths& Anglerfish • Gulpers and swallowers • Fish still small; bigger than mesopelagic • Put all energy toward growth • Not reproduction • Not migrating

  5. Benthos • Bottom dwelling organisms • Mostly unknown/ unexplored

  6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU7dD-4sbKM

  7. Challenges & Adaptations • Same as mesopelagic Only worse! • Similar adaptations Only magnified! PRESSURE LACK OF FOOD TEMPERATURE MATING

  8. PRESSURE • Adapt with molecular changes (enzymes)

  9. MATING • Worse than food because you can’t have sex with any old fish you find on the bottom • Hermaphrodites • Bioluminesence (species specific pattern) • Female: pheremones • Male: enlarged olfactory sensors • Male parasitism – find, bite, join, remain

  10. LACK OF FOOD (again) • Detritus finally stops floating – more time to find and eat • Little suspension feeding – little suspended food • Lots of meiofauna – eat bacteria or decaying organic matter (DOM); live between sediment • Lots of deposit feeding – bottom grazing on the meiofauna

  11. LACK OF FOOD (again) • Meiofauna: benthic; smaller than 1 mm • Epifauna: rest on surface • Infauna: burrow • Macrofauna: benthic; larger than 1 mm

  12. LACK OF FOOD (again) • Primary production: bacteria & detritus • Primary consumers: infauna polychate worms http://www.mbari.org/benthic/fauna.html

  13. LACK OF FOOD (again) • Primary consumers: epifauna http://www.mbari.org/benthic/fauna.html

  14. LACK OF FOOD (again) Opportunistic: whale falls • Smell food • Descend quickly • Feeding frenzy • Gorge themselves & move on • Eat EVERYTHING

  15. LACK OF FOOD (again) Deep sea gigantism • Unknown reason (possible delay of reproduction) www.wallawalla.edu/.../Idotea_wosnessenskii.htmlcourses.washington.edu/.../nina/isopod.html uglyoverload.blogspot.com/2006/12/deep-sea-gi...

  16. BACTERIA!!!!! • Adapted to cold, heat, and pressure • Primary production using chemicals instead of sunlight… CHEMOSYNTHESIS!

  17. BACTERIA!!!!! Hydrothermal Vents • Black smokers: mid-ocean ridges • Oases of life • Support: tubeworms, clams, crabs, shrimp oceanexplorer.noaa.gov

  18. BACTERIA!!!!! Hydrothermal vents • White smokers: away from active rift • Support life: snails, sponges, coral nurp.noaa.gov

  19. BACTERIA!!!!! Cold Seeps • Near shore on continental shelves http://en.wikivisual.com/images /2/22/Bacterial_mat.jpg

  20. BACTERIA!!!!! Whale falls oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/.../whalefall_600.jpg

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