What lives in the benthic environment?
For many years scientists believed the deep sea environment was barren and lifeless, yet reseach has shown that it may have the richest diverstiy of species in the ocean, similar to a tropical rain forest. Most of the abyssal floor is made of thick sediments; in northern and southern lattitudes sediments are around 500 feet thick, and near the equator they are around 1,700 feet thick. Since there’s also very little oxygen, the sediments are made up primarily of anerobic bacteria. Everything in the abyssal biome also decays slowly. Abyssal food chains begin with phytoplankton detritus, fecal mattter and organic debris, rather than with living producers. Since there’s no light, there aren’t any photosynthetic producers. The only food, with the exception of a dead whale, cold water reefs and a few other sources, is what falls down from above. Animals that live in the sediment are either deposit feeders or predators. They reproduce continually, have small broods, grow slowly, and live long
