deep sea biodiversity

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the variety and abundance of species inhabiting the ocean below approximately two hundred meters, including the mesopelagic twilight zone, the bathypelagic midnight zone, the abyssopelagic zone, and the hadopelagic trenches extending to over eleven kilometres depth; the deep sea constitutes the largest habitat on Earth by volume and despite its complete darkness, crushing pressures, near-freezing temperatures, and sparse food supply supports extraordinary species diversity including bioluminescent fish, giant squid, siphonophores, chemosynthetic bacteria, tube worms, yeti crabs, and thousands of species still undescribed by science; deep sea ecosystems are threatened by deep sea mining, bottom trawling, oxygen depletion, and the sinking of plastic and chemical pollutants from surface waters