The Ocean Food Web Starts With Something You Can't See

The ocean is the largest habitat on Earth. It covers about 70% of the planet and holds around 97% of all the water here. What surprised me when I started digging into NOAA research is that the open ocean itself — the water column — makes up about 95% of the habitable space on Earth. Most life on this planet is actually living somewhere between the surface and the seafloor.

Now here's where reefs get crazy.

Coral reefs make up less than 1% of the ocean, yet they support about 25% of all marine life. That is why they get called the rainforests of the sea.

But something a lot of reef keepers do not realize is that most corals are not the shallow colorful ones we keep in our tanks. A huge number of coral species live deep in the ocean where sunlight never reaches. These corals are non-photosynthetic and survive by feeding on plankton and organic material drifting through the water column.

Which brings everything back to the base of the ocean food chain.

Phytoplankton sit at the bottom of the marine food web. These microscopic organisms convert sunlight into energy that feeds zooplankton, small invertebrates, fish, and eventually entire reef ecosystems. Even deep sea corals depend on organic material that starts with plankton production near the surface. That's also why plankton is such an important part of reef ecosystems — both in the ocean and in our aquariums.

Pretty wild when you think about it. The entire ocean food web starts with something you need a microscope to see.

Curious what got you into reef keeping in the first place?