Ocean Zones Explorer

Journey from the sunlit surface to the crushing depths of the abyss.

Dive Controls
0m 5,500m 11,000m

Epipelagic

The Sunlight Zone
0 m
Current Depth
1 atm
Crushing Pressure
20 °C
Water Temp
100 %
Sunlight Level
Marine Life & Ecosystem

Home to coral reefs, sea turtles, dolphins, and the vast majority of commercial fish. Photosynthesis occurs here, forming the base of the ocean food web.

The Five Layers of the Ocean

Oceanographers divide the ocean into five main layers, or "pelagic zones," primarily based on how much sunlight reaches them:

  • Epipelagic (0 - 200m): The sunlit zone. Though it's the smallest layer by volume, it contains the vast majority of ocean life because light allows plants and phytoplankton to grow.
  • Mesopelagic (200 - 1,000m): The twilight zone. Light is extremely faint here. Many animals have large eyes to capture what little light remains, and some create their own light (bioluminescence) to hunt or hide.
  • Bathypelagic (1,000 - 4,000m): The midnight zone. The only light here comes from the animals themselves. The pressure is immense (over 100 times that of the surface), and temperatures hover just above freezing.
  • Abyssopelagic (4,000 - 6,000m): The abyssal zone. Pitch black and freezing. The water pressure is so high it would crush a standard submarine. Animals here are highly adapted, often lacking eyes entirely.
  • Hadalpelagic (6,000 - 11,000m): Found mostly in deep ocean trenches. Life still exists here, including strange amphipods and the Mariana snailfish, surviving under pressure equivalent to having an elephant stand on your thumb.