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October 31, 2015leow0091 No Comments

A crash course

Various Midwater Zones

The ocean is made up of 5 zones, as listed below.

0- 200m: Epipelagic Zone
This zone is usually the most crowded, since it receives most sunlight here.

200 – 1,000m: Mesopelagic Zone
Sunlight is faint, however still visible. Still relatively colonized.

1,000 – 4,000m: Bathypelagic Zone
Sunlight can no longer reach this zone. Temperatures rarely exceed 4 Degree Celsius.

Beneath 4,000m: Abyssopelagic Zone
Other than total reduction of sunlight and heavy water pressure, there is also very limited food resources and life.

To reflect how the Nouvian’s most popular work, the sub-categories under this Tab will follow the same categorization the exhibition had, which is slightly different from the above range of depth, starting from 150m instead. This is so that we dive straight into the deeper parts of the ocean. These categories include:

1. 150m – 600m: Epipelagic Zone to Mesopelagic Zone

2. 600m – 1000m: Mesopelagic Zone

3. Beneath 1000m: Mesopelagic Zone

4. Beneath 4000m: Abyssopelagic Zone

Each subcategory will serve to take you to a brief introduction of the different depths of the Deep sea virtually.

If you’re ready to start viewing the different zones, click HERE. ☺

October 28, 2015leow0091 No Comments

The Abyssal Plain

The Abyssopelagic zone is the 4th layer of the ocean, and refers to waters 4000m to 6000m deep.

The title, “Abyssal Plain” refers to sediment-covered ocean floors which can be found at 3000m to 6000m deep. They cover more than 50% of the Earth’s surface and are made up of mid-ocean ridges, island arcs, ocean trenches, and the rest of the plains occasionally punctured by seamounts. The ocean floor can be said to be the final receptacle of all food that filters down the water column. However, only 0.5% – 2% of the organic matters reaches this zone, as the organic flux depends on the production in the upper oceanic zones.

Difficult to collect information

Historically, it has been difficult to collect information at this zone due to its sheer vastness and remoteness of the abyss. However, recent expeditions found that high biodiversity are still present. (i.e. up to 2000 species of bacteria, 250 species of protozoans, and 500 species of invertebrates.

Picture taken at "The Deep" Exhibition. — Picture taken at “The Deep” Exhibition.

The sea spider which can grow up to 30cm: paces slowly along the ocean floor in search of sponges, coral or anemones to feed on.

The Deep-sea Lizardfish can be found on abyssal plains up to 4500m deep. While it is badly adapted for swimming, it waits for its prey while raising its head, like how a lizard would.

October 28, 2015leow0091 No Comments

Appearance of Colours

This post will account for the remaining half of the mesopelagic zone, from 600m to 1000m deep.

Colours

Underneath this tremendous volume, Nouvian demonstrates that there are “invisible frontiers” that divides this midwater zone. Each frontier is influenced by various factors, such as:

Light levels
Temperature
Salinity
Pressure and oxygen concentration

However, what is interesting is that animals with pigmented skin can be observed in this range, contrary to some of people’s expectation that the deeper the sea, the duller the animals’ colour would be. The colours range from bright red to dark brown.

Since most animals at these depths are bioluminescent, such pigments will serve to absorb the blue-green bioluminescence most animals create, thus allowing the predator to hide any biolumniscent sparks their prey may have emitted in their stomachs.

Picture taken at "The Deep" exhbition — Picture taken at “The Deep” exhbition

Since the colour, red, is the first wavelength to disappear into the water, it is unlikely for a marine animal’s predator to detect it as it will appear to be camouflaged by a “black cape”. Overall, in deeper and darker waters, having pigmented skin could be an advantage instead of a weakness (where predators are attracted to the prey’s coloured appearance).

The next zone will be 1km to 3km away.