140 



Life 



ate references for the interested reader. 

 Since it is believed to be more useful to start 

 with the euphotic zone, which is the site of 

 primary food production for all life in the 

 ocean, the description will proceed from 

 shallow to deep water, interposing the pe- 

 lagic life between the intertidal and the 

 benthonic life of deeper water. In this dis- 

 cussion the terminology proposed by the 

 National Research Council Committee on 

 Paleoecology (Hedgpeth, 1957) will generally 

 be foUowed (Fig. 122). 



Intertidal Environment (Littoral) 



The intertidal environment, also known 

 as the littoral, consists of three main types 

 of substrate, muddy marshes, sandy beaches. 



and rocky shores. Each has its own unique 

 flora and fauna. Because of the ease of col- 

 lection from this zone, its plants and ani- 

 mals have been described far more com- 

 pletely than have those from greater depths. 



Marshes 



Marshes are dominated by land plants 

 that have become adapted to varying degrees 

 of submergence in tidal waters and to rapid 

 changes of salinity. Because of their dif- 

 ferent tolerances, these plants live in distinct 

 belts having contour-like boundaries. Zona- 

 tion is well known for marshes in New Eng- 

 land (Johnson and York, 1915; Johnson, 

 1925), and in Britain (Chapman, 1938-1941) 

 and has been studied in southern California 

 at San Diego (Purer, 1942), at Newport Bay 



CLASSIFICATION OF MARINE ENVIRONMENTS 



Oceanic 



Epipelagic 

 Mesopelogic 

 Bathypelagic 

 Abyssopelagic 



BENTHIC (Bottom) 

 Supro-littorol 

 Littoral {Intertidal) 

 Sublittoral 



Inner 



Outer 

 Bathyal 

 Abyssal 

 Hadal 



Note: Queries in brackets OPJ 

 indicate ttiat the limits, or 

 discrete character, of the 

 environment, are uncertain 



oundary indefinite 



E N T H 



Figure 122. Classification of marine environments. From Hedgpeth (1957, Fig. 1). 



