The ones we call exotic are marine ecosystems that have specific qualities and are very different from each other in origin, functions, and the life forms they sustain.
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Hydrothermal Vents
Hydrothermal vents are caused by fissures in the Earth’s surface, which emit geothermally heated water. They form at locations where magma meets seawater and are often found around volcanically active spots, areas of tectonic disruptions, ocean basins, and geological hotspots.
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Underwater Volcanoes
In tectonically unstable areas underwater, volcano activity can spawn hot springs, which we call hydrothermal vents.
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Black Smoker
Black smokers are dark, chimney-like structures which emit a cloud of black material that is typically composed of particles of very fine-grained sulfide minerals. When hot hydrothermal fluids interact with near-freezing seawater, the minerals become solid as they cool, causing the chimney-like structure.
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White Smoker
Unlike the black smokers, white smokers emit minerals that are lighter-hued such as barium, silicon, and calcium. White smoker vents usually form plumes that are lower in temperature.
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Marine Snow
Marine snow is a shower of mainly organic debris that falls from the zone illuminated by sunlight to the aphotic zone down below. Dependent on the seasonal changes in photosynthetic activity and ocean currents, it is thought to be a food source for some organisms that do not have access to the photic zone.
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Chemosynthesis
Deep-sea organisms cannot afford the luxury of sunlight and are dependent on nutrients extracted from dusty chemical deposits and hydrothermal fluids. The process called chemosynthesis allows vent species to gain energy and nutrients provided by bacteria, without the need of light.
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Kelp Forests
If you thought a forest is something you can observe exclusively on land, maybe you haven’t heard of kelp. Kelp are large algae, living close to shore in cool, relatively shallow waters. They create the impression of a forest by growing in compact groupings that resemble an underwater jungle. Considered one of the most dynamic ecosystems, they are full of diverse life forms and provide vital food and shelter for a great number of animals and plants.
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Shelter
Many fish species, as well as other living creatures, use kelp forests as a “safe house.” If it wasn’t for this oasis of protection, predators would easily catch their prey. Animals that take shelter here include rockfish, seals, sea lions, and invertebrates (shrimp, marine snails, etc.).
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Habitat
Since kelp is dependent on photosynthesis, kelp forests occur in shallow open waters where light can be easily absorbed. They are seldom found deeper than 100, or even 50, feet.
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Fast Growth Rate
Kelp is known for its ability to grow extremely fast. It can achieve a growth rate of up to half a meter a day, getting to a maximum of 30 to 80 meters in length.
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Mangroves
A mangrove forest is a very thick mass of trees or shrubs typically found in tropical or subtropical zones. They are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems because they give shelter and food to fish, birds and other marine life to live and breed. The mangrove plant is basically a tree or bush with very long and thick roots, which often stick partly above the water. That’s why they are also called “walking trees.”
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Adaptability
Mangroves are very adaptable and diverse. They can grow in difficult conditions like water 3 times saltier that the sea, muddy soils, and very high temperatures. Guarding seashores and riverbanks, they stand as a buffer from waves and help prevent erosion and flooding.
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Fauna
Pelicans, eagles, crocodiles, and scorpions make their homes in mangroves. Some animals are even named after the trees like the mangrove tree crab, which is 1 of 2 types of crabs that climb trees. The dense woods provide shelter for fish and other marine creatures like oysters, anemones, and barnacles.
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Importance
Mangroves are used by humans for fishing and their wood is used for building and fuel as well as medicine. However, this impact is threatening their existence and they are disappearing faster than rainforests. They must be protected due to benefits such as absorbing CO2 and serving as natural barriers against storms and tsunamis.
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Tidal Pools
This is one of the easiest ecosystem that the human eye can observe, and one of the most exciting. When the high tide subsides, sea creatures may become trapped inside pool-like spaces in rocks or sand on the beach. In many cases it’s dangerous for them – overheating, predator attacks, and food shortages. However, starfish, anemones, and others like it so much in the tide pool that they literally “stick around,” attaching their bodies to solid rocks so they won’t be washed away.
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Pool Inmates
If you are wondering what kind of animals get locked in this tidal prison of some sort, the list is long. Some of the usual suspects are snails, starfish, crabs, anemones, urchins, mussels, clams, and sea cucumbers. An octopus can be taken hostage as well.
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Plant life
Tide pools usually grow algae, kelp, and seaweed on their premises. Typical kinds of plants found there are the so-called surf grass, nori (used to wrap sushi), sea lettuce, sea cabbage, and other similarly strange species.
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Surviving Skills
Animals trapped in a tide pool have to play a survival game. Many have developed ways to defend themselves, like the octopus’ camouflage or the decorator crab attaching corals or anemones (whatever it finds suiting) to its shell. And some just bury themselves in the sand.
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Exoskeletons Are Nothing to Be Scared of
The hard outer shells of animals like barnacles and limpets are called exoskeletons. They are the perfect shield against “angry birds” (seagulls mostly). Another use is storing water and nutrition, vital when water is low.
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Barnacles and Lichens
Since tide pools happen in places with constantly changing conditions, it is difficult for most life forms to survive. Sun, wind, and dry periods make life tough. Barnacles are the exception, with their ability to sustain water loss and protect themselves from basically anything. As for lichens, it’s easy for them to settle in a tide pool for hundreds of years.
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High tide zone
Seaweed, starfish, anemones, crabs, green algae, and other survival experts are to be found here. The high tide zone is the zone that is dry during low tide, and species that want to stay here should be prepared for some waves and currents action.
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Low tide zone
Vegetation and animal life here is more vivid and diverse than up in the high tide zone. Adaptation to temperature extremes and drying is not as necessary. Low tide zone hosts larger organisms, and, being shallow, provides perfect conditions for photosynthetic activity.
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Coral Reefs
Coral reefs are famous as “the rainforests of the sea” because they contain the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Home to tens of thousands of marine species, around one third of all marine fish species live part of their life on coral reefs. They can be found in the shallow and deep areas of tropical and subtropical oceans.
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What Are Corals?
Corals come from the jellyfish and anemone families. Like a million polyps aligned next to each other forming a colony, they take the extra carbon dioxide in the water and turn it into limestone. Corals can also exist as individual polyps ranging between 1-3mm in diameter.
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Soft Corals
Corals are divided into two types: soft and hard. Soft corals don’t generate a calcium carbonate skeleton and don’t form reefs.
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Hard Corals
Hard corals, however, do generate a skeleton and are reef-building, also called stony corals.
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Coral Tentacles
Corals feed on plankton and other small creatures, capturing them with their tiny tentacles. Reef-building corals have a dual nature because they are animals acting like plants. A microscopic algae lives inside of them and provides them with food that helps them grow.
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The Antarctic
The Antarctic continent in the southern hemisphere of the globe is covered in ice and known as the coldest place on earth. The temperature there is always around the freezing point, sometimes reaching up to 10 °C inland during summer. There’s hardly any vegetation – only moss, lichen, and algae can be found in such bitter conditions. Seals, whales, and penguins also live around Antarctica. Since there’s not much food, they rely almost entirely on krill – the most abundant animal in the sea.
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Krill
Krill are small, shrimp-like marine invertebrates that are very important for life, especially in the polar regions, because they are at the base of the food chain. Animals either feed directly on krill or eat food that eats krill. Krill find food and shelter in the Antarctic ice, but their population is decreasing due to increasing temperatures.
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Cute Predators
When we think of predators, we think of scary looking animals such as lions or sharks. Nevertheless, animals such as whales, penguins, and seals are considered predators because they are at the top of the food chain. These cute animals feed on krill or fish.
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Salps
Krill are eaten by even less formidable “predators,” such as the soft transparent salps. They feed on phytoplankton in the summer, when they form huge swarms. These swarms sometimes entirely replace krill in certain areas of the ocean.
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Icebergs
Antarctica houses 90% of the ice in the world. The ice never melts, it only moves towards the sea. When big chunks of ice reach the sea and start floating, they are called icebergs. If these ice sheets melted, the ocean levels would rise up to 210 feet.
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The Arctic
The Arctic region located in the northern hemisphere includes the Arctic Ocean as well as parts of North America and Eurasia, bordering with the permafrost. The Arctic Ocean is covered with ice and is the most shallow and small ocean in the world. It’s also called the land of the midnight sun because of its position to the sun – it’s mostly daylight during the summer months, and prolonged darkness in winter.
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Plankton
Arctic plankton is responsible for clearing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converting it through photosynthesis into organic matter which then feeds the animals up the food chain and also extracts heat-trapping greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.
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Arctic Species
The Arctic is one of the last wild places and home to many exotic species, including the largest predator in the world, the great polar bear. It feeds mainly on seals, but in summer, it turns vegetarian. Other arctic marine life includes jellyfish, seals, walruses, and whales.
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Natural Resources
The Arctic is very rich in natural resources like gold, diamonds, oil, and gas. It is believed to house 25% of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas. However, these resources are severely contaminated by waste that is dumped from industrial countries, disrupting the lives of native people and animals.
