The Pocket Guide of

the Deep-Sea
(and its Monsters)
PArt i: the deep

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The three great faunal environments

The deep sea can be divided in three faunal

environments: The Mesopelagic zone (Also known as

“Twilight Zone”), the Bathypelagic zone and the Benthic

Habitat (Warrant & Locket, 2004).

The “Twilight Zone” is comprised between ~200m –

1000m and it’s called “Twilight Zone” because it receives

some light, which becomes dimmer with depth, that is not

enough to allow photosynthesis. This zone is around four

times thicker than the epipelagic. It coincides with the vertical

temperature gradient (called Thermocline) and has low

oxygen concentration zones (Oxygen Minimum zones) due

to microbial degradation of sinking organic matter from the

surface (Ramirez-Llodra, 2010).

In the “Twilight zone”, we find the greatest diversity

of eye design because both dim down-welling daylight and

bioluminescent point sources are visible at the same time.

Also, this zone comprises the greatest biomass and diversity

of animal life found in the ocean (Warrant & Locket, 2004).

Above the 1000m, we are at the Bathypelagic Zone: the

largest ecosystem on the planet (Ramirez-Llodra, 2010), in

which no daylight remains and point-like bioluminescence

dominates (Warrant & Locket, 2004). In the absence of

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Introduction

You may think you know the ocean and its creatures.

You may think that most of Earth’s oceans are full of light,

life and cute animals, like Nemo. Unfortunately, all you think

you know about the oceans is just a small part of a huge

mysterious ecosystem.

When you think about ocean biodiversity you are

only thinking about the upper 150-200 m (Epipelagic Zone),

where the amount of sunlight allows photosynthesis, and in

which species are part of a complex phytoplankton-based

food web (Warrant & Locket, 2004). But the oceans can

extend to more than 6000 m depth (Ramirez-Llodra, 2010)

making the deep sea the largest habitat on Earth (Warrant &

Locket, 2004; Robison, 2004; Ramirez-Llodra, 2010).

In The deep sea the water column is very cold

(between 0-6 ˚C) (Robison, 2004); there’s no enough light for

photosynthesis after ~200 m depth (Ramirez-Llodra, 2010);

pressure increases 1 atm every 10 m depth which affects

CO2 and O2 extraction by animals and enzyme activity

(Robison, 2004). And if this is not enough hostility, food is

scarce. Therefore, organisms of the deep sea evolved such

adaptations that make them so unique that you may want to

call them monsters.

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Part II: The Monsters

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daylight, the presence of sense organs, like field sensors of

sharks, are present in many fish (Robison, 2004) and eyes

tend to become smaller. The abundance of organisms is

very low and diversity might be high however this mysterious

environment is poorly known and even estimating diversity is

hard.

Finally, after kilometers of dark cold water we achieve

the Benthic habitat which, differently from the previous two,

is a two-dimensional and nutrient-rich (compared to the

other two environments) habitat due to sinking organic and

inorganic particles from the surface, called “Marine snow”.

Also, sinking dead animals provide huge variable source

of food for benthic organisms of the deep sea (Warrant &

Locket, 2004).

Animals of the benthic habitat can spend their lives

drifting and swimming right above the bottom or living on the

bottom and occasionally swim up into the water (Ramirez-

Llodra, 2010).

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The twilight zone monsters

In the Twilight zone vision is still possible and there

are no places to hide. Hence, animals of the mesopelagic

zone had to evolved two great powers: invisibility and

super vision! This monsters can use of many strategies

to disappear and become undetectable predators or

unnoticeable prey, while being capable of seeing dim down-

welling daylight and bioluminescent point sources (Warrant &

Locket, 2004).

Invisibility

What a better way to become invisible than looking

just like your surrounding environment? In the upper levels

of the Twilight Zone where down-welling light is still present,

animals camouflage using chromatophores to look blue

(Warrant & Locket, 2004). Being red is another good

strategy because red absorbs blue light very well which

make animals, like shrimps and medusae, as dark as the

surrounding background even if they are illuminated by

bioluminescent light that is generally blue (Warrant & Locket,

2004). This form of invisibility is called Cryptic colouration.

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 Deep-sea animals need three basic things: finding

prey, finding mates and avoid becoming prey. If this is

already hard on favorable environments, imagine be

wandering around by yourself hungry in the dark waiting to

be attacked from any directions. Living in the deep-sea is

a constant death experience, therefore deep-sea animals

became specialists in tricking death.

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Figure 2 - Aristostomia ssp.
So now we know how to avoid being seen from the

same level as your predator but what if it is looking you from

below? Many cephalopods, crustaceans and fishes, have

photophores distributed along the ventral body surface in

a mechanism called Bioluminescent Counter-Illumination

(Warrant & Locket, 2004; Ramirez-Llodra 2010). These

photophores produce bioluminescent light that mimics the

colour of the surrounding daylight eliminating the animal’s

silhouette. Our friend Hatchetfish (Fig.1) is a good example

of the use of this strategy, increasing their level of invisibility

even more!

Avoiding being eaten is good but you also have to

find a way to eat. That’s why the Cookie-cutter Shark (Fig.3)

found a way to use the counter- Illumination to attract its

preys. Its ventral surface is almost all covered by photophores

except for a small pigmented band. This band seen from

below looks like a small animal that would make a good

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 Other animals in the mesopelagic zone decided that it

was a good idea to become very flat and cover themselves

in mirrors, using a camouflage mechanism called Silvering.

The hatchetfish (Fig.1), for example, can reflect almost 100%

of the incident light and became invisible to their predators at

daylight.

Figure 1 - Hatchetfish
However, during the night these mirrors would reflect

bioluminescent flashes from predators and reveal these

animals position. Once again, chromatophores are there to

help and disperse pigment of the mirrors at night (Warrant &

Locket, 2004).

Nevertheless, some tricky predators, like the

Malacosteid Dragonfish Aristostomias (Fig.2), can produce

red light from photophores and use it to detect silvery and

red animals which won’t even be award that they had been

illuminated (Robison, 2004).

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Vision

In the Twilight Zone eyes

tend to be large because large

pupils capture more light (Warrant

& Locket, 2004). Probably the most

remarkable example of this is the

giant deep-sea squid Architeuthis

dux (Fig.4) that can have a 37cm

eye!

Some fishes developed

eyes able to detect bioluminescent

counter-illumination. These fish are

able to detect she subtle difference

between the colour produced by the

photophores and the colour of the

surrounding environment. Others

are able to see ultraviolet light and

breaking camouflage, such as

transparency, in the upper depths of

the twilight zone (Warrant & Locket,

2004). Figura 4- Architeuthis dux

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meal for other predators. These predators are attracted to

this fake silhouette and end up becoming preys (Warrant &

Locket, 2004).

Figura 3 - Cookie-Cutter Shark

Last but not least, some animals are not very into

colours and decided to give up on them and becoming

transparent. Transparency reduces the contrast of the body

with the surroundings. Many soft bodied animals achieved

around 91% transparency by incorporating sea water in their

tissues. However, some tissues must remain opaque by

necessity, organisms can minimize this internal opacity by

becoming very flat.

Even though this strategy doesn’t sound as efficient

as the other ones, to be able to see one of this almost-

transparent animals the viewer must be very close. This is

good if you are both a predator, that can get very close to

its prey without being noticed, or a prey, that have better

chance of scaping (Robison, 2004;Warrant & Locket, 2004).

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The bathypelagic monsters

Monsters at the bathypelagic zone have to face lack

of light and little food. Therefore, most animals have very low

metabolic rates, watery weak muscles, flimsy skeletons and

reduced organs (Robison, 2004; Warrant & Locket, 2004)

features that make then slow and weak swimmers.

Eyes in the bathypelagic zone tend to be reduced

since extended light is absent (and having small eyes is

also energetically less expensive) but they are still able to

detect point-like sources since bioluminescence dominates

this region of the sea. Some of these animals are able

to not only detect the point-like flashes of light, but also

detect the location (distance) of the light, like the ostracod

Gigantocypris mulleri (Fig.7) with probably the most sensitive

crustacean eye (Warrant & Locket, 2004).

Figure 7 - Gigantocypris mulleri

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 Predatory skills

Another big problem in the deep-sea is that food is

scarce so you must be able to catch whatever is available

and not letting it go (Ramirez-Llodra, 2010). Therefore, you

find many monsters with large mouths and sharp inward-

angled teeth (Fig.5) that can catch and swallow almost

anything (Ramirez-Llodra,

2010).

However, some animals

lack of teeth but they still

are very efficient predators.

Figure 5 - Viperfish and its big mouth and
sharp teeth For example, the individuals

of the Solmissus genus of narcomedusae (Fig.6) , which

is the most abundant mesopelagic cnidarian, are active

predators that use their tentacles to capture large fast-

moving prey. Another example is the Chiroteuthis calyx

squid that uses of photophores on its arms to attract prey

(Robison, 2004).

Figure 6- Solmissus ssp.

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 Bioluminescence is extremely important at the

bathypelagic zone and at the same time that it is used to

predation, it can be used to avoid predation. One example is

the Vampyroteuthis infernalis (Fig.9) which, besides the cool

name, can use a luminous fluid to envelops and reveal the

presence of its predators (Robison, 2004).

Figure 9- Vampyroteuthis infernalis

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 Since animals in the Bathypelagic Zone cannot count

much in vision, they enhanced other sensory capabilities.

The Gonostomatid species and dwarf Ceratioid Anglerfish

males (Fig.8) have enhanced their olfactory sensitivity. Other

animals evolved sense organs that can sense electric fields,

the lateral line system (Robison, 2004).

As in the Mesopelagic zone, food is scarce and

animals have to seize any opportunity to feed. Therefore,

animals in the bathypelagic also have large mouths and

sharp teeth. In addition, they have expandable stomachs

(Fig.8) allowing they to swallow large prey (Drazen, 2007)

and they use bioluminescent mimetic lures (Fig.8) to attract

preys (Robison, 2004).

Figure 8- Female and male Anglerfish

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 Dwarfism and gigantism are found in deep-benthic

invertebrates. Both adaptations are related to decrease in

food availability and a trade-off between metabolic rate and

reproductive success. While being small allows a larger

number of conspecific individuals to co-exist increasing the

ability to acquire mates, the energetic cost per unit mass is

lower for a big invertebrate than for a small one (Ramirez-

Ramirez-Llodra, 2010).

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The Benthic-habitat monsters

At the bottom of the deep sea there is no daylight

but there is more food! Animals in the Benthic-habitat tend

to be stronger swimmers than their Bathypelagic upper

neighbors. This zone is known for having “living fossils”, like

Monoplacophora (Fig.10), which make it to be considered as

a refuge for a unique fauna (Ramirez-Llodra, 2010).

Figure 10- Monoplacophora

Due to the sinking organic matter from the productive

surface, lots of animals in the benthic habitat rely on deposit

feeding. But there are also scavengers that rely on large

animal falls, like whales, and others that use suspension

feeding, like the Tripod fish (Fig.11) (Ramirez-Ramirez-

Llodra, 2010).

Figure 11- Tripod fish

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If you find yourself in the deep sea remember:

•Even in the dark other animals will be able to see you. The

good news is that most of them are very slow.

• If you see a blinking light, swim away from it.

• Don’t be surprised to find giants. Nor dwarfs.

• Bring a red flashlight to ruin somebody’s camouflage.

• Don’t touch anything, you can end up as big glowing meal.

• Finally, bring a snack and maybe some oxygen and dress

appropriately for the delightful high pressures and cozy low

temperatures.

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Summary

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Drawings inspiration
http://media.galaxant.com/000/228/975/desktop-1438287255.jpg

http://www.roughy-mara.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Argyropelecus-

aculeatus-3-72.jpg

http://wild-facts.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/viperfish.png

http://sites.biology.duke.edu/johnsenlab/images/hawaii/aristostomias.jpg

http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/cookiecutter-shark-2.jpg

http://www.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/web_2010/

EML_website/images/shark.jpg

http://www.biologyeducation.net/wp-content/uploads/

RobisonFigure9_600.jpg

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/IMAGES/squid_home_

rev.gif

http://www.wild-facts.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Tripod-Fish-

Bathypterois-spp-300x214.jpg

https://www.tonmo.com/science/public/vampyimages/image014.jpg

https://ansummers.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/untitled.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2763/4368814907_3bf1c5a3ea_z.jpg?zz=1

http://www.mindenpictures.com/cache/mcache/90093233.jpg

http://www.manandmollusc.net/beginners_intro/Images/Mary_

monoplacophora.gif

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References
Drazen, J.C., Reisenbichler, K.R. & Robison, B.H. 2007,

"A comparison of absorption and assimilation efficiencies

between four species of shallow- and deep-living fishes",

Marine Biology, vol. 151, no. 4, pp. 1551; 1551-1558; 1558.

Fenton, G. The Blue Planet – The deep. 2001. BBC. ep.2, 50

min.

Ramirez-Ramirez-Llodra, E., Brandt, A., Danovaro, R., De

Mol, B. & Escobar, E. 2010, "Deep, diverse and definitely

different: unique attributes of the world's largest ecosystem",

Biogeosciences, vol. 7, no. 9, pp. 2851; 2851-2899; 2899.

Robison, B.H. 2004, "Deep pelagic biology", Journal of

experimental marine biology and ecology, vol. 300, no. 1-2,

pp. 253; 253-272; 272.

Warrant, E.J. & Locket, N.A. 2004, "Vision in the deep sea",

Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society,

vol. 79, no. 3, pp. 671-712.

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About the author

Georgia Nunes Medeiros

Student #: 74686156

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