🌊 OCEAN ZONES: SUNLIGHT TO PITCH DARK
PAGE 1 OF 5, THE SUNLIT SURFACE LAYER
SUNLIT
EPIPELAGIC, WHERE LIGHT FEEDS THE WEB
From the surface down to about 200 metres in clear water, enough sunlight reaches for phytoplankton and most seaweeds to photosynthesise. This thin skin holds most familiar ocean life, colourful fish, dolphins hunting in packs, kelp forests swaying. Fisheries, coral reefs and half the planet's oxygen story start here; lose the sunlit layer's health and the whole water column feels it later.
⚡ DID YOU KNOW?
If Earth were an apple, the sunlit productive ocean would be thinner than the wax on the skin, yet it powers enormous food webs.
SUN!
RAYS
🔵 Blue-green penetrates farthest
🔴 Reds absorbed in first tens of metres
🔴 Reds absorbed in first tens of metres
EDGE
📉 Light fades fast with depth
🌊 Murky coastal water = shallower sun
🌊 Murky coastal water = shallower sun