APPENDIX 1 - GLOSSARY
Absorb: to retain wholly without transmission or reflection.
Abyssal plains: flat plains that cover 40% of the deep ocean floor.
Adaptation: a gradual change in a species' structure, form, or
behavior that allows it to survive and reproduce in its particular
environment. Through the process of natural selection, animals with
adaptations that are most suited to the environment will survive and
reproduce, passing those traits on to the next generation.
Bathymetric maps: maps showing the depth contours of the
ocean floor.
Beak: the hard mouth part on a cephalopod that is used for slicing
its prey. It is made of chitin.
Bioluminescence: the process whereby organisms create light
through a chemical reaction in their cells.
Calcium carbonate (CaCO3): a molecule consisting of calcium,
carbon and oxygen that can be secreted by deep sea creatures to
create protective shells and skeletons.
Camouflage: the use of color patterns, shape, texture, and/or
behavior that allows an animal to blend in with its surroundings and
remain concealed from predators or prey.
Carbon dioxide (CO2): a molecule consisting of carbon and
oxygen that is released from the burning of fossil fuels and
contributes to climate change and ocean acidification.
Cephalopods: animals in a class of the phylum Mollusca that
includes squids, octopuses, cuttlefishes and nautili.
Chemosynthesis: the production of organic material by energy
from chemical reactions rather than light.
Chemosynthetic bacteria: bacteria that use energy from chemical
reactions to create sugar.
Colossal squid: the largest squid species (in terms of weight). It
inhabits the deep ocean and is a prey species of sperm whales.
Contour lines: imaginary lines drawn on topographic or
bathymetric maps that connect points of the same elevation or
depth.
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Education Guide APPENDIX 1 - GLOSSARY
Deep-sea canyons: narrow, steep-sided underwater valleys that
provide habitat for an abundance of deep-sea creatures.
Evolution: the process whereby a species' structural and
behavioral characteristics change over many generations,
sometimes in response to changes in environmental conditions.
Habitat: the immediate space where an organism lives that
provides its food and protection.
Hemoglobin: the iron-containing protein (pigment) found in red
blood cells of vertebrates and in the plumes of tubeworms. In
tubeworms, it absorbs hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide and
oxygen from the water and transports them to the symbiotic
bacteria in its trophosome.
Hydrostatic pressure: the pressure at any given point in a body of
fluid at rest. As depth below the surface increases, hydrostatic
pressure increases because of the greater weight of fluid
exerting downward force from above.
Hydrothermal vent: an opening in the seafloor through which
super-heated water and minerals are discharged into the
surrounding seawater.
Invertebrates: animals that do not have a backbone.
Marine Protected Area: ocean and coastal areas that are
designated with special scientific, historical or cultural significance.
The measure of protection varies, depending on the type of marine
protected area and the governing body.
Non-point source pollution: pollution that enters a water body
from diffuse origins on the watershed, rather than from a single
identifiable source.
Ocean acidification: the name given to the ongoing increase in
acidity of the Earth's ocean, caused by its uptake of anthropogenic
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Overfishing: a process whereby organisms are removed from a
body of water at a rate that upsets the ecological balance or causes
depletion of living creatures.
pH scale: a scale from 0 to 14 which measures how acidic or basic
a substance is. A pH of 7 is neutral. A pH less than 7 is acidic. A pH
greater than 7 is basic.
Reflect: to cast light back from a surface.
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Education Guide APPENDIX 1 - GLOSSARY
Seamounts: a submarine mountain, usually conical in shape and
volcanic in origin that rises above the ocean floor but does not
break the surface of the water.
Sonar: an acronym for "sound navigation and ranging." Active
sonar describes an apparatus that transmits high frequency sound
waves in water and registers the vibrations reflected back from an
object.
Symbiotic relationship: the interdependence of two separate
organisms for the benefit of one or both.
Thermocline: the region below the surface layer of the ocean,
where the temperature decreases rapidly with increasing depth.
Trenches: deep-sea trenches are long, narrow, steep-sided
depressions in the ocean floor that go down to the greatest ocean
depths
Tubeworms: a marine worm in the phylum Annelida, class
Polychaeta, that lives within tubular cases made of mineral or
chitinous secretions.
Visible spectrum: the range of colors perceived by the human
eye. When light is projected through a prism, the array order is: red,
orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
Water pressure: the force water exerts on objects.
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Education Guide APPENDIX 1 - GLOSSARY