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The uppermost layer of the world's oceans is bathed in sunlight during the daytime. This bright ocean layer is called the sunlit zone or the euphotic zone (euphotic means "well lit" in Greek) or the epipelagic zone (epipelagic means "upon the sea"). The depth of this zone depends on the clarity or murkiness of the water. In clear water, the euphotic zone can be quite deep; in murky water, it can be only 50 feet deep. On average, it extends to about 660 feet (200 meters); the depth of the ocean averages about 13,000 feet or 4,000 m. The temperature in this zone ranges from 104 to 27 degrees F.
In this zone, there is enough light for photosynthesis to take place, so many plants and other photosynthetic organisms live in this zone and food is abundant. Photosynthesis is a process in which sunlight and carbon dioxide gas are converted into food (chemical energy contained in carbohydrates) and oxygen gas. Photosynthesis in the oceans creates approximately 90% of the Earth's gaseous oxygen. Most of the oxygen is produced by phytoplankton. These primary producers (also called autotrophs) are the first link in the food chain in the oceans. Because of this food source, many animals also live in this zone. In fact, most of the life in the ocean is found in this zone, although it is the smallest ocean zone in terms of volume of water.
Primary Producers (Algae, Phytoplankton, Plants): In the euphotic zone, photosynthesizers (autotrophs) include:
Animals: Examples of euphotic zone animals include most ocean fish (including sharks and rays), man-o'-war, jellyfish, sea turtles, seals, coral, and zooplankton. Some bottom-dwellers live in the euphotic zone - this zone is defined in terms of light, not depth.
Some of the animals in this zone have countershading. Countershading is when an animal is light on its underside and dark on its upper parts. When a predator looks down at a countershaded animal, it blends into the darker waters; whan a predator looks at a countershaded animal from below, the light underbelly disappears into the light. This adaptation helps camouflage the organism, hiding it from predators and allowing it to sneak up on prey. Most sharks, for example, are countershaded.
Sunlit Ocean (Euphotic) Zone Animal Printouts:
In The Sea An Easy Reader Book A short, printable book about sea animals for early readers. The book has pages for the student to cut out, read, color and copy a short phrase. The pages are about a fish, whale, seal, starfish, shell, shark, crab, octopus, jellyfish, shrimp, and clam. |
Ocean Animals, A Rainbow Under the Sea A Printable Book A short, printable book about colorful ocean animals for early readers. The book has pages for the student to cut out, animal sentences to read and copy (like, "The lobster is red."), activities to do (like labeling the pictures, connect the dots, and matching), and pictures to color. The pages are: lobster, crab, clown fish, starfish, octopus, tuna, sea urchin, seal, orca, beluga whale, and shark. |
Angelfish Angelfish are brightly-colored, flattened fish that live in shallow warm waters. |
Angelfish (Simple version) Angelfish are brightly-colored, flattened fish that live in shallow warm waters. |
Angelshark A bottom-dwelling, relatively harmless shark with a flattened body and a blunt snout. |
Basking Shark A huge filter feeder and the second largest fish. |
Beluga Whale A small, white, toothed whale that lives mostly in cold, Arctic waters. |
Bivalves Bivalves are soft-bodied animals that are protected by two hard shells, hinged together. Scallops, oysters and clams are bivalves. |
Blowfish Also called pufferfish, globefish, and fugu, this poisonous fish can swallow water to double its size. |
Bluefin Tuna A large, bony fish in danger of extinction from over-fishing. |
Blue Ring Octopus A small but very venomous octopus from warm reefs in Australia and nearby regions. |
Blue Shark A sleek, fast-swimming shark with blue skin. |
Blue Whale A baleen whale that is the largest animal that ever lived on Earth. |
Bottlenose Dolphin A bottlenose dolphin is a small, toothed whale. |
Bowhead Whale A baleen whale with very long baleen. |
Brittle Star A bottom-dwelling marine invertebrate with long, spiny arms. |
Bull Shark (Simple version) A blunt-nosed, dangerous, gray shark that can also live in fresh water rivers and lakes. |
Bull Shark A blunt-nosed, dangerous, gray shark can that also live in fresh water rivers and lakes. |
Clam Burrowing bivalves with a soft body. |
Clown Fish Colorful fish that live among sea anemone. |
Conch A marine invertebrate with a large, beautiful shell. |
Copepod Copepods are tiny crustaceans from fresh and salt water. |
Coral Coral is a tiny marine animal that often lives in colonies. Huge colonies of hard corals form coral reefs. |
Coral Reef Animals Coral reefs are warm, clear, shallow ocean habitats that are rich in life. The reef's massive structure is formed from coral polyps. |
Crab A crab is an animal with a shell. It has eyes on stalks on its head. |
Crustaceans Crustaceans are animals with a hard exoskeleton, jointed legs, and a segmented body. |
Cuttlefish Cuttlefish are cephalopods with relatively short legs, a fin along the entire mantle, and an internal cuttlebone. |
Dall's Porpoise A black-and-white toothed whale that makes a distinctive spray when it surfaces. |
Dogfish Shark A small, very common, relatively harmless shark found worldwide. |
Dugong Dugongs are gentle, slow-swimming, aquatic mammals. |
Eels Information and printouts on these primitive fish that go through metamorphosis. |
Echinoderms Spiny-skinned, bottom-dwelling marine invertebrates with five-fold symmetry. |
Elephant Seal, Northern The Northern Elephant Seal is a huge seal that lives in the northern Pacific Ocean. (Family Phocidae, Subfamily Monachinae) |
Fiddler Crab: Label Me! Printout Label the external anatomy of the fiddler crab. Answers |
Fin Whale A huge baleen whale that is the second-largest animal on Earth. |
Fish Fish live in the water and breathe with gills. Most (but not all) fish are found in the sunlit (euphotic) zone of the ocean. |
Fish Unlabeled An unlabeled fish printout to color. |
Fish Anatomy Fish live in the water and breathe using gills. |
Galapagos Shark A large predator found near islands in warm water. |
Gastropods Gastropods are a class of mollusks with a single (or absent) shell and a muscular foot. |
Gray Whale The gray whale is baleen whale that is a bottom feeder; it migrates very long distances each year. |
Great Hammerhead Shark A large predatory fish with a hammer-shaped head. |
Great White Shark An enormous, ferocious predator found worldwide. |
Great White Shark (Simple Version) An enormous, ferocious predator found worldwide. |
Greenland Shark A large, slow-swimming shark with glow-in-the-dark eyes. |
Hermit Crab Hermit crabs are crabs that lack a hard shell; they use a discarded shell for protection. |
Hammerhead Shark Large predators with a hammer-shaped head. |
Harbor Seal Harbor Seals live in the ocean but breathe air. They are marine mammals. |
Harp Seal Harp Seals are marine mammals that live in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. |
Hermit Crab Hermit crabs are crabs that lack a hard shell; they use a discarded shell for protection. |
Hermit Crab Diagram: Label Me! Label the external anatomy of the hermit crab both in its shell and out of it. Answers |
Horseshoe Crab The horseshoe crab is a hard-shelled animal that lives in warm coastal waters on the sea floor. |
Humpback Whale A long-flippered baleen whale that sings and frolics in the water. |
Intertidal Zone The intertidal zone is where the sea meets the land. |
Jellyfish Jellyfish are animals that have stinging tentacles. Or go to an unlabeled version. |
John Dory John Dory is a spiny fish with a black spot on its side. |
Killer Whale or Orca A toothed whale that lives in small pods in the Arctic. |
Knobbed Whelk The Knobbed Whelk is a marine invertebrate with a spiral shell. |
Krill Small crustaceans that are eaten by many animals, including baleen whales. |
Lemon Shark Large, yellowish predators found near the surface and at intermediate depths. |
Limpet The limpet is a marine invertebrate (a gastropod) with a flattened, cone-shaped shell. |
Littoral Zone The littoral (intertidal) zone is where the sea meets the land. |
Lobster A hard-shelled marine invertebrate with 10 jointed legs. |
Mako Shark Large predators that are the fastest swimming fish! |
Manatee Manatees are gentle, slow-swimming, aquatic mammals. |
Man-of-War The Portuguese man-of-war is a floating colony of animals that has very long, stinging tentacles. It lives in warm ocean waters. |
Marine Mammals Mammals that spend most of their lives in the seas. |
Megamouth A large, filter-feeding shark that was only discovered in 1976. |
Minke Whale The smallest baleen whale. It sings and has a white band on each flipper. |
Mollusks Mollusks are soft-bodied invertebrates. Some mollusks include the octopus, squid, clam, snail, slug, and tusk shells. |
Moray Eel Printout Long, snake-like fish that have circular gills. |
Narwhal A toothed whale from the Arctic. The male has a huge, spiral tooth. |
Northern Elephant Seal The Northern Elephant Seal is a huge seal that lives in the northern Pacific Ocean. (Family Phocidae, Subfamily Monachinae) |
Northern Fur Seal The Northern Fur Seal is a marine mammal that lives in the northern Pacific Ocean. |
Nurse Shark A large bottom-dwelling shark with rounded fins. |
Octopus Octopuses have eight legs and live on the sea floor. Go to a simple version (just the image). |
Octopus Shape Book A short book about the octopus to print, with pages on octopus anatomy, a connect-the-dot activity, a page on the most poisonous octopus, octopus facts, and octopus questions. |
Orca or Killer Whale A toothed whale that lives in small pods in the Arctic. |
Oyster The oyster is a bivalve, a soft-bodied marine animal that is protected by two hard shells. |
Pink Conch Also known as the queen conch, a marine invertebrate with a large, beautiful shell. |
Pinnipeds Pinnipeds are marine mammals. They spend most of their life in the seas, but go onto land or ice at times. |
Plankton Plankton are tiny organisms that float in the seas and other bodies of water. |
Port Jackson Shark A shark from waters off southern Australia. |
Pufferfish Also called blowfish and fugu, this poisonous fish can swallow water to double its size. |
Purple Sea Urchin A spiny, globular animal that lives on the ocean floor off the western coast of North America. |
Queen Conch A marine invertebrate with a large, beautiful shell. |
Rays Rays are flat fish with no bones, only cartilage. Many rays live in coral reefs. |
Right Whale Baleen whales with a huge head and an arched mouth. |
Salmon Salmon are fish that live in the sea and spawn in fresh water. |
Sand Dollar Sand Dollars are echinoderms, disk-shaped spiny-skinned sea bed animals that have 5-part radial symmetry. |
Sandtiger Shark (Sand Shark) A shark that is cannibalistic before birth. |
Scallop Scallops are bivalves, shelled animals that live on the ocean floor. |
Sea Anemone A predatory animal that looks like a flower and lives on the ocean floor. |
Sea Cow Sea cow is another name for manatee. Sea cows are gentle, slow-swimming, aquatic mammals. |
Sea Cucumber Sea cucumbers are cylinder-shaped echinoderms. |
Seahorse (labeled) The seahorse is a very strange fish that lives in warm water. Or go to an unlabeled version. |
Sea Lion Sea lions are eared seals that live on coastlines. |
Seals Seals live in the ocean but breathe air. They are marine mammals. |
Sea Otter Sea otters are marine mammals with very dense, waterproof fur. |
Sea Star Sea stars, another name for starfish, are animals that live on the ocean floor. |
Sea Turtle Sea turtles are large marine turtles. |
Sea Urchin A spiny, globular animal that lives on the ocean floor. |
Shark Anatomy Label the shark external anatomy diagram. Answers |
Sharks Sharks are a type of fish that have no bones, only cartilage. Many sharks live or hunt in reefs. |
Shrimp Shrimp are small, bottom-dwelling crustaceans with a translucent exoskeleton. |
Snail A soft-bodied animal with a hard, protective shell. |
Spectacled Porpoise A porpoise (a small toothed whale) from the Southern Hemisphere. |
Sperm Whale The Sperm whale is the largest toothed whale; it is over 50 feet long. It eats giant squid. |
Sponge Information Page Read about these primitive animals. |
Sponge Coloring/Information Printout A printable coloring/information page about sponges. |
Sponge External Anatomy: Label Me! Printout Label the external anatomy of a sponge and the flow of water through it. Answers |
Sponge Internal Anatomy: Label Me! Printout Label the cross-section of a sponge and the flow of water through it. Answers |
Spotted Dolphin The Pantropical Spotted Dolphin is a small, toothed whale from tropical waters worldwide. |
Squid The squid is a fast-swimming invertebrate with ten arms. |
Starfish Sea stars, another name for starfish, are animals that live on the ocean floor. |
Stingray Stingrays are flat fish with a stinger and no bones (only cartilage). |
Sunfish A large fish with an almost circular, flattened body. |
Swordfish The swordfish is a large fish with a long, sharp bill. |
Thresher Shark The Thresher Shark is a shark whose tail fin has a greatly elongated upper lobe. |
Tiger Shark Tiger Sharks are large predators who are found worldwide in warm seas, including coral atolls. |
Tuna The Bluefin tuna is a large, bony fish in danger of extinction from over-fishing. |
Walrus The walrus is a large mammal that spends most of its life in icy seas. |
Weddell Seal The Weddell seal is a large, nocturnal pinniped from Antarctica. |
Whales Whales are marine mammals. Some whales are found near coral reefs. |
Whales: Mystery Connect-the-Dots Learn about whales while you play. |
Whale Shark The largest fish and a filter feeder that eats tiny marine organisms and small fish. |
Whales vs. Fish Determine which characteristics belong to fish, which belong to whales, and which belong to both. |
Whelk Whelks are marine invertebrates with a spiral shell. |
Zebra Bullhead Shark A bottom-dwelling shark with zebra-like stripes. |
Zooplankton Zooplankton are tiny animals that float in the seas and other bodies of water. |
Biomes - Habitats |
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