Under the sea!

Now that we're all done with Mangroves, we move on to the vast OCEANS of the world.

A simple picture of the globe would be able to depict how vast our oceans are (140 million square miles to be exact)! As of today, we have 6 different oceans that surround the Earth - Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic & Arctic Oceans.

In terms of its depth, oceans are generally divided into the pelagic & benthic zones.
The pelagic zone refers to the zone of the ocean outside the coastal areas. It can be further broken down into the epipelagic (ocean surface-200m), mesopelagic (200-1000m), bathypelagic (1000-4000m), abyssopelagic (4000-6000m) & hadopelagic (> 6000m) zones.

Pelagic Zone

Now here's the exciting part! The type of marine life that can be found in the Pelagic Zone tend to get a lotttt more different as you go further deeper down, toward the Hadalpelagic Zone (some of which look pretty out of this world!!!)

Black Dragonfish of the Idiacanthus genus

Fangtooth Fish

Basket Stars that have arm span of over 25cm

Hatchetfish

Vampire Squid

Is it me or do these creatures look like they came out from a horror film? Then again, it is insanely amazing what the oceans hold; the great space & darkness & water that flows all around our land hold so much life & diversity & richness & mysteries that are, really, waiting to be discovered!

References:

• BiomesDuff, (2014), ocean-layers-diagram [ONLINE]. Available at:http://biomesduff.wikispaces.com/file/view/ocean-layers-diagram.jpg/312424424/483x330/ocean-layers-diagram.jpg [Accessed 12 October 14].
• HRW WORLD ATLAS, (2006), Oceans [ONLINE]. Available at: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgQDhFJ1vZSBC_vkRcITbC0akS0b8uqSRkYzSKJUrAzGzkbtM5UFvhr13w_eC9_Gq0JZ2Sl3lRB-XyCrdAigZ_QEX8msKAka1d_Wg0gWdZuilEmNSvS4BKKYgCpSF-NwoIriVo3hsmPjkcg03nu8v9syX7fjoigJvFzWf199CMbB6BcPDB_qA= [Accessed 12 October 14].
• Jennifer Kennedy. 2012. Facts About the Ocean As a Marine Life Habitat. [ONLINE] Available at:http://marinelife.about.com/od/habitatprofiles/p/The-Ocean.htm. [Accessed 12 October 14].
• MARINEBIO. 2014. The Open Ocean - MarineBio.org. [ONLINE] Available at:http://marinebio.org/oceans/open-ocean/. [Accessed 12 October 14].
• National Geographic. 2011. Deep-Sea Creature Photos -- National Geographic. [ONLINE] Available at:http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/photos/deep-sea-creatures/#/deep-sea01-frill-shark_18161_600x450.jpg. [Accessed 12 October 14].