The link you posted talked only about swimming fish not ALL life in the ocean. That is where you were wrong. Go back and read it for yourself then check out the four links below.
Plankton Facts ~ What is Plankton?
What are phytoplankton?
Classroom@Sea » Facts
Plankton Revealed - National Geographic Education
Don't mean to keep this off topic, but dude what are you looking at? In all 4 of your references, plankton is defined yet nothing states the distribution of plankton within the water column with the exception of photoplankton(which by the way is just a small slice of the plankton pie).
I don't need a lesson on the definition of plankton. I don't need a lesson on the different types of plankton, nor their position in the food chain, nor where they are distributed.
What you fail to realize is that the photic zone of the earths oceans is far deeper than 33fsw. Primary production of autotrophs takes place in the first 80m(on average). That means that the first 33 ft is only 12.5% of that fertile production zone for plankton. I know for a fact that the sum of the biomass between 10m and 80m outweighs the sum between 0 and 10m. MANY types of plankton are primarily dispersed in areas below the euphotic zone.
I think you are confusing the photic zone with the first subsurface ATM in the ocean.
In case you need to understand the "Zones":
The
photic zone,
euphotic zone (Greek for "well lit": εὖ "well" + φῶς "light"), or
sunlight zone is the depth of the water in a lake or ocean that is exposed to such intensity of sunlight which designates
compensation point, i.e. the intensity of light at which the rate of carbon dioxide uptake, or equivalently, the rate of oxygen production, is equal to the rate of carbon dioxide production, equivalently to the rate of oxygen consumption, reducing thus the net carbon dioxide assimilation to zero.
It extends from the surface down to a depth where light intensity falls to one percent of that at the surface, called the euphotic depth. Accordingly, its thickness depends on the extent of light
attenuation in the water column. Typical euphotic depths vary from only a few centimetres in highly
turbid eutrophic lakes, to around 200 metres in the open
ocean. It also varies with seasonal changes in turbidity.
Since the photic zone is where almost all of the photosynthesis occurs, the depth of the photic zone is generally proportional to the level of
primary production that occurs in that area of the ocean.
About 90% of all marine life lives in the photic zone. A small amount of primary production is generated deep in the
abyssal zone around the
hydrothermal vents which exist along some
mid-oceanic ridges.
The zone which extends from the base of the euphotic zone to about 200 metres is sometimes called the disphotic zone.
[1] While there is some light, it is insufficient for photosynthesis, or at least insufficient for photosynthesis at a rate greater than
respiration. The euphotic zone together with the disphotic zone coincides with the
epipelagic zone. The bottommost zone, below the euphotic zone, is called the
aphotic zone. Most
deep ocean waters belong to this zone.
The
transparency of the water, which determines the depth of the photic zone, is measured simply with a
Secchi disk. It may also be measured with a
photometer lowered into the water.
---------- Post added December 9th, 2014 at 01:12 PM ----------
No, the topic is boring. But how many times do you get to see a flame war about plankton?
LOL. We know that it has little to do with the OP's topic, but it is a fun offshoot to the thread...and maybe educational for some folks.
