Dive deeper into the living sea by continuing your explorations below. Near the Surface Most of the living things in the ocean are in a very small portion near the surface. Nearly all marine life depends directly or indirectly on microscopic algae found only at the ocean surface. Therefore, most of the animals in the ocean live in the sunlit zone or migrate to it in search of food. Animals that eat meat are called carnivores.
Omnivores are animals that eat both plants and animals.
No matter what animals eat, all their food can be traced back to the ability of plants to produce organic material from the energy of the sun.