Additionally, mesopelagic marine bacteria also play an important role in global carbon cycling by capturing carbon dioxide and converting it to organic materials, such as proteins and carbohydrates, that can be used to support marine life. The benthic zone might not be brimming with vivid aquatic creatures, but many crustaceans, snails, sponges, sea stars etc. Out of all marine species, 98 of them can be found on the ocean floor, making the benthic zone the lifeblood of diversity in the ocean, comprised of mostly scavengers or detritivores, organisms that feed off of dead organic material. In the process, atmospheric carbon obtained by consumed surface animals is transferred to the ocean depths. The benthic zone is home to a massive amount of oceanic life referred to as benthos, or bottom-dwellers. When dawn arises, the mesopelagic animals retreat back to the cover of the dark mesopelagic zone. Other predators follow zooplankton in search of food creating a vast ocean food web. Many of the mesopelagic animals, like zooplankton, feed on phytoplankton found abundantly in the upper epipelagic zone.

As you find each piece of equipment, record its name on the list. Doing so under the cover of dark helps them to avoid daytime predators. In the word search below are the names of several pieces of lab equipment. They are in a close relationship with the substratum. Organisms that live in the benthic Zone are called benthos. In much of the hydrocarbon resource area of the North West Shelf, the sea bed lies in this depth zone. The bathyal zone and the abyssal and hadal zones below it are referred to as the deep sea. All four zones have a great diversity of species. The slope, terraces, and plateaux from depths of 200 to 2000 m are referred to as the bathyal or deep-sea zone. Like ponds and lakes, the ocean regions are separated into separate zones: intertidal, pelagic, abyssal, and benthic. This zone covers all from tidal pools and continental shelves to abyssal depths. Estuaries Oceans The largest of all the ecosystems, oceans are very large bodies of water that dominate the Earth's surface. These organisms migrate in massive number to the oceans surface at dusk in search of food. The benthic zone is a community of organisms that thrive in, on, or near the seabed. Mesopelagic animals play an important role in the global carbon cycle and ocean's food chain. These animals include fish, shrimp, squid, snipe eels, jellyfish, and zooplankton.

There are a number of marine animals that live in the mesopelagic zone. David Shale/Nature Picture Library/Getty Images Anglerfish have sharp teeth and a luminescent bulb that is used to attract prey. Anglerfish (Melanocetus murrayi) Mid-Atlantic Ridge, North Atlantic Ocean.

Benthos abyssal zone animals