Marine Biology Homework, Week 3: Marine Zonation

My assignment this week was to do a project which shows the location of the following marine zones: supratidal, intertidal, subtidal, benthic, pelagic, neritic, oceanic, photic, and aphotic.

I decided to do a three dimensional model of the zones on the computer, uising Tinkercad, which is shown below in screen captures.

The next part of the assignment was to identify an organism that lives in each of the above zonal habitats and to describe one adaptation it has for doing so:

SUPRATIDAL ZONE: Whelks inhabit the supratidal zone to a limited extent.  One adaptation they have is for coping with the scarcity of food there.  They have  a toxin called purpurin, which they inject into barnacles to cause them to open their shells.

INTERTIDAL ZONE: Several species of barnacle inhabit the intertidal zone. They have evolved an outer shell that can close while the tide is out, protecting the vulnerable crustacean within, or open when the tide is in allowing its legs to emerge for filter feeding.

SUBTIDAL ZONE: Sea anemones are firmly attatched to the seabed to avoid being swept away by waves and currents, they are filter feeders which allows them to take advantage of nutrients that are swept into the subtidal zone.

NERITIC ZONE:  The nautilus traps pockets of air in its shell to assist with bouyancy, and several species of fish use countershading to avoid predators.

OCEANIC ZONE: Dolphins have a streamlined body plan, allowing them to travel long distances through the water quickly.

PELAGIC ZONE:  The leatherback sea turtle travels long distances across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans..They are adapted to this by eating jellyfish, a common group of pelagic organisms, in addition to having huge flippers to propel themselves through the water.

BENTHIC ZONE: Flounders have a sideways flattened body plan with one of the eyes migrating to the other side of its head during adolescence. This allows them to lie flat on trhe seafloor and cover their bodies with sand, both hiding them from predators and concealing them from prey.

PHOTIC ZONE:  Phytoplankton are adapted to  survive in the photic zone by using the available sunlight to engage in photosynthesis and make food.

APHOTIC ZONE:  Dragonfish have bioluminescent red patches under their eyes. the dragonfish can see the red light, but since no red light reaches the aphotic zone, the eyes of its prey are not adapted to see the color red. This can be used to illuminate the darkness for hunting, as well as to locate other members of their species for mating.