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Historically, the hadal zone was not recognized as distinct from the abyssal zone, although the deepest sections were sometimes called "ultra-abyssal".During the early 1950s, the Danish Galathea II and Soviet Vityaz expeditions separately discovered a distinct shift in the life at depths of 6,000–7,000 m (20,000–23,000 ft) not recognized by the broad definition of the abyssal zone.
At depths of 4,000–6,000 m (13,000–20,000 ft), [2] this zone remains in perpetual darkness. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] It covers 83% of the total area of the ocean and 60% of Earth's surface. [ 5 ] The abyssal zone has temperatures around 2–3 °C (36–37 °F) through the large majority of its mass. [ 3 ]
The mesopelagic zone is the disphotic zone, meaning light there is minimal but still measurable. The oxygen minimum layer exists somewhere between a depth of 700 metres (2,297 ft) and 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) deep depending on the place in the ocean. This area is also where nutrients are most abundant.
The ocean depths still remain a largely unexplored part of the Earth, and form a relatively undiscovered domain. Scientific deep-sea exploration can be said to have begun when French scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace investigated the average depth of the Atlantic Ocean by observing tidal motions registered on Brazilian and African coasts circa the ...
Barreleyes inhabit moderate depths, from the mesopelagic to bathypelagic zone, circa 400–2,500 m deep. They are presumably solitary and do not undergo diel vertical migrations ; instead, barreleyes remain just below the limit of light penetration and use their sensitive, upward-pointing tubular eyes—adapted for enhanced binocular vision at ...
Dumbo octopuses are the deepest living octopuses known, with some specimens captured or observed at hadal depths. One Grimpoteuthis specimen was captured 60 kilometres (37 mi) southeast of Grand Cayman at 7,279 metres (23,881 ft), but this depth is uncertain (as the specimen may have been captured while the net was descending to this depth).
The alfonsino has large eyes and a deep, compressed body, 1.9–2.5 times its standard length at the greatest depth. [5] It is a rose red color dorsally and orange ventrally. The rest of its body is silvery-pink, and the breast is yellow-white in color. [4] Fins and the inside of the mouth are bright red.
Deepsea lizardfish are typical inhabitants of the deep ocean floor. They are found circumglobally, in tropical and temperate latitudes (65° N to 40° S) at depths of 600–3,500 m in the aphotic zone, where water temperatures range between 4 and 3 °C. [6] The energy-poor ecosystem dictates low population densities.