Open Ocean
I.
Pelagic Zone: Oceanic Zone; the open ocean far
from land
http://tolweb.org/tree/ToLimages/HabitatTerm.JPG
a. pelagic organisms drift and swim in the sea
b. most pelagic organisms depend on the presence
of microscopic living things known as plankton
II. Plankton: means “drifter”
http://content.answcdn.com/main/content/img/McGrawHill/boating/f0212-01.png
a. Phytoplankton: plantlike microscopic organism
http://octopus.gma.org/onlocation/images/phytoplankton.gif
i. Diatoms
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_C97NrIblNPQ/TTkTKJ2c_sI/AAAAAAAAB4M/Yhs0P6lbQiI/s640/diato
m2.jpg
http://cce.lternet.edu/blogs/2011/files/2011/06/SPL_5_B305338-Diatoms_SEM.jpg
1. make up the majority of this group
2. hundreds of different shapes & sizes
3. glass-like silica found in the cell walls
ii. Dinoflagellates
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/BOT201/Algae/Bot%20201%20Dinoflagellates%20page.GIF
1. have a flagellum
2. possible cause of red-tide: rapid
increase in the population of
dinoflagellates which is bad for
bivalves (clams, oysters & mussels)
http://coastalcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/hab-red-tide.jpg
http://naturalunseenhazards.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/20081110006redtide1.jpg
3. dinoflagellates release a neurotoxin like
poison
b. Zooplankton: microscopic animal life
http://www.foundation.uconn.edu/cmsimages/legacy-2007-02-zooplankton.jpg
i. Copepods: small crustaceans, krill & many
larval forms of developing fish are all
considered to be zooplankton
III. Fish
a. Schooling: a feeding & defensives technique
used by many fish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9p_5uUDYKI
i. Example: anchovy, herring, mackerel,
bonito, marlin & swordfish
b. Lateral line: a sensitive organ along the sides of
fish that allow them to sense movements in the
water; thus allowing schools to move together as
one animal
http://www.neurodvpmt.univ-montp2.fr/model/truite.jpg
c. Migration
i. Pacific & Atlantic Salmon:
1. born in freshwater streams
2. spend their adult lives in the ocean
3. instinctive to return to the streams they
were born in to spawn; travel upstream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utgc-1y9JfE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOi3kNWZHr4&feature=endscreen&NR=1
4. spawning: male & female fish release
their eggs & sperm simultaneously
5. within days of spawning they die
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=543qkvWCrZQ