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By count they represent 90% of all animals on the ocean floor. [262] Their numerical dominance, often exceeding a million individuals per square meter and accounting for about 80% of all individual animals on Earth, their diversity of life cycles, and their presence at various trophic levels point at an important role in many ecosystems. [263]
A flat line parting the blue below from the blue above. But in reality a diverse array of species occupy this unique boundary layer. A tangle of terms exist for different organisms occupying different niches of the ocean's surface. The most inclusive term, neuston, is used here to refer to all of them. [1]
A whole new world: Surprising ecosystem thriving under sea floor. The study authors found the tubeworms and other species living in warm, fluid-filled cavities more than 2,500 meters, or 1.5 miles ...
They are ubiquitous in marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments, where they often outnumber other animals in both individual and species counts. They are found in every part of the Earth's lithosphere, from the top of mountains to the bottom of oceanic trenches. [51] By count they represent 90% of all animals on the ocean floor. [52]
From shallow waters to the deep sea, the open ocean to rivers and lakes, numerous terrestrial and marine species depend on the surface ecosystem and the organisms found there. [28] The ocean's surface acts like a skin between the atmosphere above and the water below, and harbours an ecosystem unique to this environment.
Scientists believe they’ve discovered an ancient ocean floor comprising a new layer between Earth’s mantle and core.
Organisms in the abyssal zone rely on the natural processes of higher ocean layers. When animals from higher ocean levels die, their carcasses occasionally drift down to the abyssal zone, where organisms in the deep can feed on them. When a whale carcass falls down to the abyssal zone, this is called a whale fall. The carcass of the whale can ...
But most animals that light up are found in the depths of the ocean. In a new study, scientists report that deep-sea corals that lived 540 million years ago may have been the first animals to glow ...