OCEAN ANIMALS
BATHYPELAGIC ZONE
The bathypelagic zone is by far the largest zone. It is an ancient, almost changeless environment. Here it is constantly dark and cool and living organisms are sparsely distributed. Many fish are black. Emitting light would make them conspicuous here.
Prawns are completely red at this depth, but appear black in the absence of light.
Some predators use light organs to attract their prey. The deep sea angler fish has a luminous lure, and light organs inside its mouth, to bring prey closer. Many fish at this depth have enormous mouths and highly distendible stomachs. Some can take prey larger than themselves. This is extremely useful when meals may be few and far between.
Very few animals of the bathypelagic zone migrate upwards to feed.The sperm whale is known to descend to these depths to hunt giant squid which may be 43m long.
In the deepest parts of the bathypelagic, where there are no luminous organisms, and where the pressure is very high, many fish are colourless and have small eyes. They locate their prey mainly by smell and by vibrations.Fast movement is not possible under high pressures and rigid skeletons would have difficulty in resisting these pressures. So deep sea fish have reduced skeletons and muscles.
