Life in the sea

Various animals and plants live in the Adriatic. We can distinguish two types of habitats: the pelagic area or the area of the open sea where two big groups of organisms live plankton, that is to say, all organisms floating in the sea, and nektons or real swimmers, all organisms which can actively move around. The group of benthos, or life at the bottom of the sea, includes all organisms, which are constantly or occasionally connected to the sea bottom.

In the water mass between the mentioned areas we can distinguish different belts or steps with different characteristics: Supralythoral, which is the part, exposed to the spraying of the sea, Mediolythoral which is the area of the high and the low tide. Then come infralitoral or the area of photophilic algae and, which in the Adriatic expands from the border of the low tide to 30-50 meters, Abyssal which reaches 50 to 200 meters, Hadal or the deep sea area, which extends more than 200 meters in depth.

Abyssal exists only in the southern part of the Adriatic, and in the area of the Jabuka basin, and hadal does not exist in our sea Crabs inhabit the supralythoral area of the Adriatic. Endemic algae, the Adriatic bladder wrack and sea anemone inhabit the mediolythoral area. In the infralythoral area, which is the largest one, many species of algae, corals, and different sorts of fish like sheepshead bream, the predatory yellow fish, ugly frog-fish, gilthead, goby, bamboofish and many others.