Fisheries and Aquaculture Journal
Open Access

Brief Note on Marine Habitats

Daniel Oliver^{* *}Correspondence: Daniel Oliver, Department of Fisheries, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, Email:

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Description

Marine habitats are places where marine life can thrive. Marine life is dependent on the seas saltwater in some way. An ecological or environmental area inhabited by one or more living species is referred to as a habitat. Many of these habitats can be found in the marine environment. Coastal and open ocean habitats are the two types of marine environments. Coastal habitats cover a region that stretches from the point where the tide comes in on the beach to the continental shelf's border. Even though the shelf region accounts for only 7% of the overall ocean area, coastal environments are home to the majority of marine life. Open ocean habitats can be found in a variety of places.

Similarly, pelagic and demersal zones can be distinguished in marine ecosystems. Away from the ocean's bottom, pelagic habitats can be found at the surface or in the open water column. Demersal habitats are found at or at the ocean's bottom. A pelagic organism, such as a pelagic fish, is one that lives in a pelagic habitat. Similarly, an organism that lives in a demersal habitat, such as a demersal fish, is referred to as a demersal organism. Pelagic habitats are inherently dynamic and transient, as they are influenced by ocean currents. The inhabitants of marine ecosystems have the ability to alter it. Some marine creatures, such as corals, kelp, mangroves, and sea grasses, act as ecosystem engineers, reshaping the marine environment to provide additional habitat for other organisms. The ocean provides the majority of the planet's habitable space by volume.

Seawater is found in all types of marine ecosystems. Aside from that, a variety of additional factors influence whether or not a marine area is suitable for habitat, as well as the type of habitat it provides. Geographic latitude, ocean currents, weather, river discharge, and the presence of hydrothermal vents or cold seeps all influence temperature. Photosynthetic processes are influenced by the depth and turbidity of the water. Nutrients from land runoff, upwellings from the deep sea, or sinking through the water as marine snow are carried by ocean currents to various marine habitats. Salinity varies, especially in estuaries and river deltas, as well as near hydrothermal vents. Wave movement can raise dissolved gases, particularly oxygen levels, and decrease them during algae blooms.

Acidity this has something to do with the dissolved gases mentioned earlier, because the acidity of the ocean is mostly determined by the amount of carbon dioxide in the water. Ocean currents play a significant role in identifying which areas are suitable for use as habitats in marine systems, as they transfer the essential nutrients required for marine life to thrive. Plankton is marine organisms that are so little (less than 2 mm) that they are unable to push themselves through the water and must instead float with the currents. If the river transports the necessary nutrients and travels at a shallow enough depth to allow for plenty of sunshine, the current can become a perfect habitat for photosynthesizing microscopic algae known as phytoplankton.

These tiny plants are the ocean's major producers, at the very top of the food chain. As the number of floating phytoplankton increases, the water provides a more favourable habitat for zooplankton, which feed on the phytoplankton. Phytoplankton is made up of microscopic drifting plants, while zooplankton is made up of tiny drifting organisms including fish larvae and marine invertebrates. The current becomes a candidate habitat for the forage fish that feed on them if enough zooplankton creates them. The area subsequently becomes a candidate habitat for larger predatory fish and other marine animals that feed on the forage fish if enough forage fish migrate to the area. The current, in this dynamic form, can become a moving habitat for a variety of marine life over time.