Conditions away from shore ● Closest to the shore is the Continental shelf ● Sunlight reaches almost to the bottom of the Continental shelf ● Nutrients wash onto the Continental shelf from the land ● Temperature and salinity are constant throughout the Continental shelf ● This makes life most abundant on the Continental shelf.

Coral reefs ● Coral reefs are built up limestone deposits formed by large colonies of ant-sized organisms. ● The coral lives in a symbiotic relationship with algae ● Because the algae is a plant it can only live where there is sunlight, therefore corals can only exist where sunlight reaches the ocean floor ● Great Barrier reef – huge reef off the coast of Australia

Coral Reef ● Reefs are habitat for many creatures.

Kelp Forests ● Kelp forests can only grow where sunlight reaches the ocean floor ● They provide habitat for many organisms. ● Sea urchins ● Lobsters ● Abalone ● Fish

Kelp Forest ● Sea otters live in kelp forests

Surface Zone ● Phytoplankton are microscopic plants that live in the surface zone ● Zooplankton are small animals that feed on the phytoplankton ● Fish, squid and whales eat the plankton

Phytoplankton ● Blue-green algae

Zooplankton ● Diatom

Zooplankton ● Jellyfish

Deep Zone ● The dark, cold zone of open ocean below the surface zone ● No plants can live there so creatures eat each other or food that drifts down from above ● Many deep sea animals glow in the dark

Deep Sea Creatures ● Bathysaurus

Deep sea Creatures ● Fangtooth

Deep sea creatures ● Warty Angler

Hydrothermal Vents ● Cold ocean water that seeps into cracks in the ocean floor gets heated deep underground by hot magma. ● The hot water then gushes up and out into the ocean, forming hydrothermal vents ● Life near the hydrothermal vents depends on a special type of bacteria that makes food from the chemicals released by the hydrothermal vents ● The bacteria is the first link in the food chain

Hydrothermal vents ● Black smoker

Hydrothermal vent creatures ● Tube worms ● Crabs