16 Oct How Many Fish Are In The Ocean: The Right Count Of Aquatic Life

Fishes are one of the most important parts of aquatic life. Moreover, apart from just being a food option, it also has a great impact on the economy. Plus, commercial or recreational fishing also provides a source of income to millions of individuals. Thus, the count of fish in water bodies contributes to the global financial system as well. Therefore, to achieve a balance of sustainability, ecosystem, and business, knowing how many fish are in the ocean is a must. Hence, read this complete blog till the end to explore ocean layers, methods of calculation, issues, and so on. 

Importance To Know How Many Fish Are In The Ocean

We must not ignore the fish count in the ocean, as it is crucial to the world’s functioning. Hence, to get a glimpse of its importance, read the below-shared tips: 

• Sustainability: Keeping a track of fish populations in the ocean helps in managing the ecosystem sustainably. Moreover, it also gives data about overfishing or any other type of disturbance in the water body. 

• Policy creation: Learning about how many fish are in the ocean also assists the policymakers, scientists, and fisheries managers to make informed decisions. For instance, the policy and program start depending more on the metrics of harming marine ecosystems, depleting stocks, and so on. 

• Climate change: Monitoring the amount of fishes in the ocean is also very important from the climate change perspective. Thus, any loss in the marine biodiversity can disbalance the strategies and ecosystem which may lead to negative climatic issues.

Different Layers Of The Ocean

So, before discovering how many fish are in the ocean, let’s first explore the various levels of the ocean, where we divide aquatic life. Hence, the gist of the same is mentioned below:

Epipelagic layer: This is also called the sunlight zone as it absorbs the maximum amount of sunlight among all layers. Thus, it margins the top layer of the ocean to a depth of 660 feet. 

Mesopelagic zone: It is also known as the twilight zone, as only a little ray of sunlight can reach this area. It begins from a depth of 600 feet and ends at 3300 feet. Barreleye and lanternfish inhabit this layer.

Bathypelagic layer: Therefore, this layer of the ocean is known as the midnight zone as it is very dark. Hence, it begins from 3,300 feet down and covers up to 13,100 feet of depth. 

Abyssopelagic layer: This level of the ocean has freezing temperatures and complete darkness. Thus, it does not support life. It covers the range from 13,100 feet of depth to 19,700 feet. 

Hadalpelagic layer: It is the last layer of the ocean and has the deepest point or closest to the Earth’s core. This begins from the depth of 19,700 feet and ends at 35,797 feet.

How Many Fish Are In The Ocean?

Giving an exact number for how many fish are in the ocean is quite impossible. Researchers estimate that approximately 3.5 trillion fish live in the ocean. Although, proving it to be exact is nearly an impossible task as the figures are not static and change frequently depending on factors such as reproductions, fishing, environmental state, etc. 

Apart from this, to get the precise answer of fish calculation, the team of scientists are working around the clock and working to understand the fish population. Besides this, talking about the number of fish species living in the ocean is around 18,000 which live along with the other aquatic creatures.

Methods To Calculate How Many Fish Are In The Ocean

There are different ways to give an estimated answer to how many fish are there in the ocean. Thus, to know about those methods, read the below-shared points:

• Netting: In this technique, the researchers catch fish in a particular area using a special net and count them. They estimate the value using the catch-per-unit effort method by multiplying one unit of fish from the total across the ocean.

• Surveys: This method uses advanced cameras or professional divers, which are sent deep into the ocean to make a vague calculation of the number of fish in a certain area. Thus, it is mostly beneficial to calculate the size, species, and distribution of fish populations in the water body. 

• Tagging & Tracking: Another method to calculate fish in the ocean is tagging and tracking. In this, some fishes are tagged with electronic tags which are completely visible. After this, the fish’s movement is recorded over time which gives a vague idea about their number and distribution. 

Major Challenges Of Calculating Fishes In The Ocean

After learning everything about how many fish are in the ocean, let’s highlight its other aspects as well. Below are some of the major challenges that limit and hamper the techniques as well as the precise calculation of fishes in the ocean.

• A limited amount of data regarding fish distribution is available. 

• Difficulty in taking the samples due to fish mobility and species. 

• Lack of research and study in some other corners of the ocean. 

• Rapid variation in the fish population depends on the time period and space. 

• The complex ecosystem of the ocean also prevents us from counting fish.

• Sudden environmental change leads to inaccurate estimates. 

Conclusion

In this blog post, we briefly answer how many fish are in the ocean. Therefore, ranging from its importance to different ocean levels, we talked about everything in detail. We also discussed techniques for calculating fish in a water body and the challenges involved. All of this concludes that getting the precise or exact number of fish living in a huge water body like the ocean is impossible. However, a vague number, according to different rounds of calculation, reports it to be around 3,500,000,000,000. I hope the page answered your tingling query and informed you about all the aspects associated with the topic. 

FAQs

How do you calculate the number of fish in the ocean?

There are various ways to do it. However, the most common ones include netting, sampling, and tagging & tracking the fish in the ocean. 

Why is the calculation of fish population important?

Keeping the count of fish population is important for multiple reasons such as policy making, sustainability, and climatic balance. 

Why is it impossible to count fish in the ocean?

Counting the number of fish in the ocean is impossible for several reasons. It includes frequent change in their population, limited data about fishes, lack of research in certain areas of the ocean, and complex ecosystem of water bodies.