The bathypelagic zone is one of five vertical ecological zones into which the deep ocean is commonly divided. The Bathypelagic zone is right above the Abyssopelagic zone and right below the Mesopelagic zone. The Bathypelagic zone can reach from 1,000 meters to 4,000 meters.
Animals living in the Bathypelagic zone rely on detritus for food or on eating other animals in this zone. At this depth and pressure, the animals most commonly found are fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and jellyfish. Sperm whales will hunt at these depths on occasion to prey on giant squid. Black and red are the predominant colors of animals here and any bioluminescence is usually blue since red is not visible at these depths. The most common mollusk in the Bathypelagic zone is the vampire squid, an animal that can turn itself inside-out to use its spiky tentacles to deter predators or capture prey. Bathypelagic zone is considered to be the largest habitat on the Earth. There is no light that is found in the Bathypelagic zone, except for the light that is produced through different animal’s bioluminescence.
Without any appreciable sunlight, the Bathypelagic zone lacks photosynthetic plants and primary productivity. Species present in this zone are limited to Deteriorates who feed on the downward drizzle of molted exoskeletons, mucus sheets, fecal pellets,organism corpses and other organic debris falling from themesopelagic zone Resident carnivores or other resident scavengers. Unlike the Mesopelagic zone, there is little vertical migration of species to take advantage of bio productivity at shallower depths.
This is largely due to the great vertical distances and high energy expenditures associated with long distance travel. Some of the organisms are predator specialists that lie in waiting and lure their prey. This feeding strategy is advantageous in an environment where movement involves costly energy expenditure. Correspondingly, many of the organisms are listless and lack any real muscle development due to their inactive life style. Most bathypelagic fishes are darker in color than their mesopelagic counterparts. Also, swim bladders are almost always absent in fishes of the bathypelagic zone in contrast to species in the mesopelagic zone. For bathypelagic creatures of a larger size, there is often significant storage of lipids (fats) to achieve neutral buoyancy under the great pressure. Gigantism of life forms is quite common in the bathypelagic. This outcome is often related to fluid bloating of the organism's body and not a result of increase in dry weight compared to comparable species at shallower depths. Bioluminescence is so common that bioluminescent light levels can often be measured in the bathypelagic.
Animals living in the Bathypelagic zone rely on detritus for food or on eating other animals in this zone. At this depth and pressure, the animals most commonly found are fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and jellyfish. Sperm whales will hunt at these depths on occasion to prey on giant squid. Black and red are the predominant colors of animals here and any bioluminescence is usually blue since red is not visible at these depths. The most common mollusk in the Bathypelagic zone is the vampire squid, an animal that can turn itself inside-out to use its spiky tentacles to deter predators or capture prey. Bathypelagic zone is considered to be the largest habitat on the Earth. There is no light that is found in the Bathypelagic zone, except for the light that is produced through different animal’s bioluminescence.
Without any appreciable sunlight, the Bathypelagic zone lacks photosynthetic plants and primary productivity. Species present in this zone are limited to Deteriorates who feed on the downward drizzle of molted exoskeletons, mucus sheets, fecal pellets,organism corpses and other organic debris falling from themesopelagic zone Resident carnivores or other resident scavengers. Unlike the Mesopelagic zone, there is little vertical migration of species to take advantage of bio productivity at shallower depths.
This is largely due to the great vertical distances and high energy expenditures associated with long distance travel. Some of the organisms are predator specialists that lie in waiting and lure their prey. This feeding strategy is advantageous in an environment where movement involves costly energy expenditure. Correspondingly, many of the organisms are listless and lack any real muscle development due to their inactive life style. Most bathypelagic fishes are darker in color than their mesopelagic counterparts. Also, swim bladders are almost always absent in fishes of the bathypelagic zone in contrast to species in the mesopelagic zone. For bathypelagic creatures of a larger size, there is often significant storage of lipids (fats) to achieve neutral buoyancy under the great pressure. Gigantism of life forms is quite common in the bathypelagic. This outcome is often related to fluid bloating of the organism's body and not a result of increase in dry weight compared to comparable species at shallower depths. Bioluminescence is so common that bioluminescent light levels can often be measured in the bathypelagic.