Oxygen minimum zones starve mid-depths of dissolved oxygen
Between sunlit surface mixing and the deep abyss, some ocean layers hold so little oxygen that most fish cannot linger. Bacteria and specialized microbes thrive where respiration outruns replenishment.
OMZs expand when warming slows mixing or when excess nutrients fuel more decaying plankton. Animals that must cross them — sharks, tuna, migrating squid — face a thinner breathable corridor.
Not every blue depth is hospitable. Vast midwater belts already run on near-anoxia, and climate trends are stretching those breathless bands wider.
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