Hi everyone! How did you do on the epipelagic matching game from last week? I hope everyone did well and had fun!

This week I want to share with you some of the animals I found in the dimly lit mesopelagic layer. The mesopelagic layer extends from 200 - 1000 meters. Some light penetrates this zone until about 800 meters so it is sometimes called the twilight zone. In this layer I caught a: lanternfish, glass squid, waryfish, firefly squid, amphipod, hatchetfish, shrimp, heteropod, and viperfish. Can you guess who's who in the image below? The answers can be found under the image.

A. Firefly squid; B. Heteropod; C. Waryfish; D. Shrimp; E. Lanternfish; F. Glass squid; G. Hatchetfish; H. Viperfish; and I. Amphipod. Photographs by Dante B. Fenolio.

Hi everyone! Over the next few weeks I want to show you some of the plants and animals I caught during our dive into the deep. For this week I want you to see what I caught in the warm and sunny epipelagic layer. This layer is near the surface of the open ocean and extends to 200 meters in depth. The sunlight here allows plants to photosynthesize. I caught a crab larvae, seaweed, lobster larvae, sea snail, flying fish, juvenile sailfish, siphonophore, and crab zoea. Can you guess who's who in the image below? The answers can be found under the image.

A. Flying fish; B. Crab Larvae; C. Crab Zoea; D. Juvenile Sailfish; E. Siphonophore; F. Lobster larvae; G. Seaweed; and H. Sea Snail. Photographs by Dante B. Fenolio.

Hi Kids! Are you reading to dive into the deep ocean with me? Scientists divide the ocean into zones and layers. I'm here to give you a tour of the pelagic ocean layers. The pelagic ocean zone is all the open ocean waters from the water surface down to the ocean floor.

The pelagic ocean zone is divided into three main layers: epipelagic, mesopelagic, and bathypelagic.

The epipelagic layer is the uppermost zone in the water column extending from the surface to 200m.

This layer is sometimes called the "sunlight zone" because sunlight penetrates the waters.  The epipelagic layer is home to many plants and animals. Notice how the fish like to live here because of the warmth and sunlight!

Descending through the epipelagic layer we encounter the mesopelagic layer (200–1000m). There is a dim light presence in the mesopelagic zone, so it is sometimes called the "twilight zone." No plants live in this zone because there is not enough sunlight to drive photosynthesis. Animals such as myself call this layer home!

At a depth of 1000m we encounter the bathypelagic layer. The bathypelagic layer extends to 4000m. Absolutely no light reaches this zone, so it is often called the "midnight zone."

Notice how I need a light to see all the way down here! Once again, we see no plants living this deep. But, animals such as octopi and gulper eels call this layer home.

Wasn't our descent into the deep ocean exciting? I think I'll return to the mesopelagic layer so I can see again!

Good afternoon everyone! This week I am going to introduce you to some of our DEEPEND student scientists. On board the R/V Point Sur this cruise we had five graduate students. A graduate student is a college student who is working to earn a Masters or Doctoral degree.

The first graduate student I would like you to meet this week is Ms. Katie Bowen. Ms. Bowen grew up in Pennsylvania and recently moved to Florida to attend school.

Ms. Bowen is a graduate student at Nova Southeastern University working on her Masters degree in marine biology. As part of her studies Ms. Bowen is studying juvenile reef fishes collected in the Gulf of Mexico. Ms. Bowen wants to know where these fish live in the water column and how many species there are in the Gulf of Mexico.

Do you have any questions for Ms. Bowen? If so leave them in the comments area!

Good morning everyone.  Today we are highlighting Lacey Malarky! She is another one of our DEEPEND graduate students. On board the R/V Point Sur cruise we had five graduate students. A graduate student is a college student who is working to earn a Masters or Doctoral degree. Lacey grew up in Kansas and moved to Florida to continue studying.

Ms.Malarky is a graduate student at Nova Southeastern University working on her Masters degree. She is interested in the amount of larval (or baby) flatfishes in the Gulf of Mexico. While flatfishes are usually found in coastal areas, or the transitions areas between land and sea, baby flatfish develop in offshore surface waters.

Larval (baby) Flatfish

Lacey helped the DEEPEND science team on this last cruise by keeping count and measuring all the fish that were collected. She also took charge of collecting and organizing all the data the team collected.

If you have any questions for Ms.Malarky leave them in the comments! Talk soon!