Pelagic Biome

By Andres Garcia

Location

• The pelagic biome is the marine ocean system• The pelagic biome covers about 70 percent of

the world and is the most diverse of all the biomes.

Location

All of the area marked oceans is the pelagic biome

Fish

• Some of the fish that are a part of this biome are Tuna, Salmon – which have the impressive ability to survive in both freshwater and saltwater, Japanese Mackerel, and Herring

Sharks/rays

• There are also many sharks that live and hunt in the open ocean. Some key sharks are the tiger shark, hammerhead shark – though they are often found by reefs for cleaning, basking shark, and the oceanic white tip.

• The Manta ray is also a residence of the open ocean

Mammals

• There are many mammals that make the open ocean their home and hunting grounds

• There are dolphin species such as Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Dolphin, and Pacific White Side Dolphin

• Whales of this zone include Blue Whale, Humpback Whale, and Gray Whale

Birds

• Birds such as the Tropic bird , South Polar Skua, Thayer's Gull, Tufted puffin, and Long-tailed Jaeger have adapted to life as marine birds and will dove into the sea to catch their pray. These birds only return to land to breed but live and swim in the ocean or float on the surface.

Animal Pictures

Plants

• There are not quite as many types of plants in the ocean but there is usually some algae that has been pulled off the ground and is floating.

• Algae is broken down into three different groups: Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta, and Phaeophyta. (green, red, brown)

Plant Pictures

Characteristics

• This biome is the least explored and on dives to the deeper parts, scientists routinely find new species.

• Coral reefs are some of the most diverse habitats on earth, providing shelter to thousands of fish.

Fun Facts

• The term pelagic is from the Ancient Greek word πέλαγος (pélagos), which translates to "open sea".

• They have found plants that survive with no light source in the depths.

• The canyons of the ocean are much , much deeper than the Grand Canyon.

More fun facts about the ocean

• If one coral grows to close to another one they will fight over the space and the winner ends up eating away at the loser until the loser is no longer is the way.

• The Great Barrier Reef is the largest reef on earth.

Oceans

• The ocean temperature does not vary vastly during the year because of how vast the body is.

• Many kelp forests exist around the world one being off the coast of California and at Catalina Island.

• A significant amount of the worlds oxygen is produced by algae and there are theories for using algae to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere to help repair it.