Pelagic Environment and Its Biocoenosis
摘要
Deep-sea pelagic habitats include the dark ocean (>200 m depth) beneath the epipelagic (0–200 m depth) layer as well as the mesopelagic (200–1000 m) and bathypelagic (water column >1000 m) zones. Except for limited areas of hydrothermal vents and seeps, life patterns in deep-sea pelagic habitats along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) depend on biological production exported from the sunlit epipelagic layers. In this section, we will describe individual components of the pelagic environment in the MAR region, following the size categories of biota.