Download Station 2 Activity and Notes

Marine Plant Life
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Ocean waters teem with life, most microscopic in size.
These organisms, both plant and animal, are called plankton.
Waves and currents control their movement.
Minute plant species of algae and bacteria are called phytoplankton.
They are a major food supply for animal species, including animal
plankton, small fish, penguins and whales.
Seaweed, a species of algae, are much larger than phytoplankton.
Seaweeds contain chlorophyll and can be green or a variety of other
colors due to other color pigments.
Seaweeds are suppliers of food, and more importantly, oxygen.
Sea Lettuce is a popular food, although not so much in Canada.
Fan kelp is brown algae with many long leaf like segments growing
from the end of a stalk. A tough fibrous holdfast anchors the fan to the
sea floor. Rich in iodine and other minerals, it is popular in Japan.
Giant Kelps of the Pacific coast can be 450m in length, with leaves
one meter long!
The Atlantic Coast chenille weed is a beautiful red algae with delicate
hairs on its stem, that grows in quiet waters.
Marine Animal Life: Shallow Water
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The ocean is a vast storehouse of animal life.
The surface waters contain tiny animals called zooplankton.
Microscopic zooplankton include foraminifers, radiolarians, copepods and the
larvae of shrimp, snails, worms and various fish.
Plankton (phytoplankton & zooplankton) are the diets of many creatures who in
turn, eaten by larger animals, such as barracuda and sea turtles.
The sea anemone (a coelenterate) paralyzes fish with tiny poison threads and pull
then into its mouth.
Jellyfish (another coelenterate) and Portuguese Man-of-War are harmful to
swimmers.
Starfish belong to the phylum of spiny-skinned animals, called Echinoderms.
Crustaceans include crabs, lobster sand shrimp.
Mollusks are shellfish with bivalves, such as scallops & oysters and univalves ,
like snails, but are also octopus and squid.
Organisms fixed to one spot ( barnacles, sponges ) are called Benthos.
Free swimming creatures are Nekton organisms, like fish & turtles.
Seashore animals experience wide ranges of change, from temperature, tides,
currents & salinity, which fluctuates due to freshwater deposits of rivers, streams,
etc.
Marine Animal Life: Deep Water
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Sunlight penetrates to a depth of about 30m in clear ocean water.
Some sunrays may reach 450m.
The temperature in deep ocean water is generally around -1°C.
Most “action” takes place in the upper regions but certain species
venture down to 150m below the surface. They include cod, tuna, and
sharks.
In the twilight zone, the region of very weak light, hatchet fish are
found.
The Giant Squid can reach a length of 15m and is the major food of
large sperm whales.
Oceanographers thought life could not exist in the deep but
discoveries starting in the 1800’s have shed new light on these weird
species.
Some create their own light (phosphorescent), have bizarre
appendages and large heads and mouths filled with fangs, like the
Viperfish.
A major food for deep sea creatures the shrimp like prawn.
The tiny chiasmodon fish can expand its stomach in order to feed on
much larger prey than itself.
Sea spiders, sea urchins, sea stars have been known to exist at depths
lower than 1800m.
Geothermal vents provide nutrients through chemosynthesis to sustain
life for bacteria and giant tube worms.