Seafloor composes Earths

area by 63% and water

column composes volume of
water on Earth by 98.5%

It supports high diversity

of habitat and species and
enormous mineral
resources

Deep Sea
Water column and
seafloor with more than
200 m in depth

It shows important
ecological functions and
services

Deep Sea Environment

Cold (0 6 C)

High hydrostatic
pressure (1 atm/ 10
m depth)

Scarce food

Dark (No light)

Slow current (1
m/s)

Low oxygen
content

Deep Sea Life

Few in number

High diversity

Small broods

Year-round
reproduction

Long life

Slow growth

Physiological Adaptations
There is no shallow counterparts, meanwhile watery tissues and flimsy body.
Deep sea fishes have thinly ossified bones and reduced protein and lipid levels among
both fishes and crustaceans.
Gelatinous animals, the exception to the pattern, rely on transparency rather than
locomotion to avoid detection by their sighted predators and prey.
Cephalopods and fishes have big eye to increase sensitivity toward light.

Behavioral Adaptation
Bioluminescence

Scarce food
Attracting prey

Mimetic lures
Energy
conservation

Low activity level

Predation
strategies
Motionless

Waiting
Low oxygen
content

Using stealth
Deploying tentacles

Bioluminescence
Most common form of communication.
Functions:
Defensive information
Attracting prey
Illuminate prey

Communication media with others of the same species

It is produced, depends on species, by certain organ or bacterial symbionts.
Luciferase
Luciferin

O2

Benthopelagic Fauna
Feed on the bottom but but spend the majority of their time swimming or
suspended above it.
Including fishes, holothurians, crustaceans, gelatinous animals, etc.

Crossota millsae
Viviparous
Asexual reproduction
Brooding their juveniles
Shed their tentacles

Benthopelagic Fauna
Enypniastes eximia
Whole-body bioluminescence
Very fragile skin, replaced
every 1-5 days

Squaliolus aliae
Opportunistic feeder
Bioluminescence
Delayed sexual maturity

Megafauna
The giant siphonophores, e.g. Praya
- It is distributed through Atlantic Europe and the Gulf of Mexico
- living at 700 m to 1000 m below sea level
- can grow to length of 40 m (130 ft)
Architeuthis dux (Giant squid)
- the largest chepalopods that have length up to 60 ft and weight
900 kg.
- Concentrations of species found range from the North Atlantic
Ocean, the South Atlantic in southern African waters, the North
Pacific around Japan, and the southwestern Pacific around New
Zealand and Australia and circumglobal in the Southern Ocean

Megafauna

Praya dubia
http://biolum.eemb.ucsb.edu/organism/pictures/praya.html

Architeuthis dux

The Jelly Web

The jelly web is large and
complex gelatinous fauna
in deep water can
seasonally dominate the
second and third trophic
levels of midwater
communities.

References
Capezzuto, F., R. Carlucci, P. Maiorano, L. Sion, D. Battista, A. Giove, A. Indennidate, A. Tursi, & G. DOnghia.
2010. The Bathyal Benthopelagic Fauna in the North-Western Ionian Sea: Structure, Patterns and
Interactions. Chemistry and Ecology 26: 199-217.
Haddock, S. H. D., M. A. Moline, & J. F. Case. 2010. Bioluminescence in the Sea. Annual Review of Marine Science
2: 443-493.
Martin, R. A., & J. Treberg. 2000. Biology of Deep Sea Sharks: A Review. Downloaded from: www.elasmoresearch.org/publications/pdfs/deep-sea-sharks.pdf [October 22nd, 2015].
Robinson, B. H. 2004. Deep Sea Biology. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 300: 253-272.

Thuesen, E. V. 2003. Crossota millsae (Cnidaria: Trachymedusae: Rhopalonematidae), a New Species of

Viviparous Hydromedusa from the Deep Sea Off California and Hawaii. Zootaxa 309: 1-12.