Usually found at 0–15 m
Marine iguanaAmblyrhynchus cristatus
The descent
Scroll down. Keep going.
See who lives at every depth.
From the sunlit shallows to a thousand metres down — every animal in true depth order, straight from our species data. Depth, conservation status and how-often-seen are real; richer field notes are a verified fast-follow. As you descend, the gauge on the left tracks your depth, the water pressure and an approximate temperature.
0 m
The surface
Warm, bright, alive — most of the ocean’s life crowds into this thin sunlit layer.
~6 m
Drifting plant plankton make at least half the oxygen you breathe — every second breath comes from the sea.
NOAA
Usually found at 0–20 m
Giant clamTridacna gigas
~25 m
Sound travels about four times faster in seawater than in air (~1,500 m/s) — how whales call across whole ocean basins.
NOAA
Usually found at 0–30 m
Hawksbill turtleEretmochelys imbricata
Usually found at 0–40 m
Whitetip reef sharkTriaenodon obesus
Usually found at 0–40 m
Reef manta rayMobula alfredi
~40 m
The edge of recreational diving
Past about here you need training, mixed gas, and a very good reason to go deeper.
Usually found at 0–50 m
Bottlenose dolphinTursiops truncatus
Usually found at 0–60 m
Zebra (leopard) sharkStegostoma tigrinum
Usually found at 0–100 m
Whale sharkRhincodon typus
📷 Aqqa Rosing-Asvid - Visit Greenland · CC BY 2.0Usually found at 0–200 m
Fin whaleBalaenoptera physalus
~200 m
Sunlight fades
The last blue light gives out. Below is the twilight zone — colour disappears, and animals begin to make their own light.
~210 m
Every night, the twilight-zone animals rise to feed and sink again by dawn — the largest animal migration on Earth, and it happens daily.
NOAA · WHOI
How deep is that, really?
You vs the deep
Real depths — recreational limit (PADI), freediving no-limits record (H. Nitsch, 214 m), Eiffel Tower 330 m, deepest scuba dive (A. Gabr, 332 m), sperm whale ~2,000 m.
~320 m
Most of the ocean’s fish may live in this twilight zone — by some estimates up to ~90% of all fish biomass.
Irigoien et al. 2014
~720 m
Sperm whales hunt squid down here in total darkness, holding one breath for up to ~90 minutes and diving past 2,000 m.
NOAA Fisheries
~770 m
In the deep sea, making your own light is the rule, not the exception — about three in four animals are bioluminescent.
MBARI · Martini & Haddock 2017
~990 m
Here the water presses in at about 100 atmospheres — a hundred times the pressure at the surface — yet life still finds a way.
computed
~1,000 m
The deep
No sunlight has ever reached here. Perpetual cold and dark — and still, life finds a way.
Usually found at 0–2000 m
Sperm whalePhyseter macrocephalus
↓ dives beyond 1,000 m
~1,000 m — and still going
Most of this is still a mystery.
More than 80% of the ocean has never been mapped, seen, or explored — we have better maps of Mars. The deep is the planet's largest, least-known wilderness. And it gives us half of every breath we take.
The ocean frees you. Help free the ocean.
Which of these is your animal? Take the 60-second Marine Animal Finder — we’ll match you, and tell you where to meet it.
Find your marine animal →Sources: NOAA Ocean Exploration (ocean unmapped); NOAA (ocean oxygen).