Marine life, which is also known as sea life or ocean life, refers to all the marine organisms that live in salt water habitats, or ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, plants, algae, fungi, protists, single-celled microorganisms and associated viruses living in the saline water of marine habitats, either the sea water of marginal seas and oceans, or the brackish water of coastal wetlands, lagoons, estuaries and inland seas. As of 2023, more than 242,000 marine species have been documented, and perhaps two million marine species are yet to be documented. On average, researches described about 2,300 new marine species each year. The study of marine life spans into multiple fields, which is primarily marine biology, as well as biological oceanography.
Today, marine species range in size from the microscopic phytoplankton, which can be as small as 0.02–micrometers; to huge cetaceans like the blue whale, which can reach 33 m (108 ft) in length. Marine microorganisms have been variously estimated as constituting about 70% or about 90% of the total marine biomass. Marine primary producers, mainly cyanobacteria and chloroplastic algae, produce oxygen and sequester carbon via photosynthesis, which generate enormous biomass and significantly influence the atmospheric chemistry. Migratory species, such as oceanodromous and anadromous fish, also create biomass and biological energy transfer between different regions of Earth, with many serving as keystone species of various ecosystems. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet, and in part, shape and protect shorelines, and some marine organisms (e.g. corals) even help create new land via accumulated reef-building. (Full article...)
Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms that inhabit the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than on taxonomy. (Full article...)
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
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Image 2Nemertea is a phylum of animals also known as ribbon worms or proboscis worms, consisting of about 1300 known species. Most ribbon worms are very slim, usually only a few millimeters wide, although a few have relatively short but wide bodies. Many have patterns of yellow, orange, red and green coloration. The foregut, stomach and intestine run a little below the midline of the body, the anus is at the tip of the tail, and the mouth is under the front. A little above the gut is the rhynchocoel, a cavity which mostly runs above the midline and ends a little short of the rear of the body. All species have a proboscis which lies in the rhynchocoel when inactive but everts to emerge just above the mouth to capture the animal's prey with venom. A highly extensible muscle in the back of the rhynchocoel pulls the proboscis in when an attack ends. A few species with stubby bodies filter feed and have suckers at the front and back ends, with which they attach to a host. ( Full article...)
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Image 3The goblin shark ( Mitsukurina owstoni) is a rare species of deep-sea shark. Sometimes called a " living fossil", it is the only extant representative of the family Mitsukurinidae, a lineage some 125 million years old. This pink-skinned animal has a distinctive profile with an elongated, flat snout, and highly protrusible jaws containing prominent nail-like teeth. It typically reaches a length of 3 to 4 meters (10 to 13 feet) when fully grown, although it can grow significantly larger—such as one specimen captured in 2000, which was believed to measure around 6 meters (20 feet). Goblin sharks are benthopelagic creatures that inhabit upper continental slopes, submarine canyons, and seamounts throughout the world at depths greater than 100 m (330 ft), with adults found deeper than juveniles. Some researchers believed that these sharks could also dive to depths of up to 1,300 m (4,270 ft), for short periods; footage captured in 2024 suggests that their range could be deeper than previously thought, with a confirmed sighting of an adult swimming at 2,000 m (6,560 ft). Various anatomical features of the goblin shark, such as its flabby body and small fins, suggest that it is sluggish in nature. This species hunts for teleost fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans near the sea floor and in the middle of the water column. Its long snout is covered with ampullae of Lorenzini that sense minute electric fields produced by nearby prey, which it can snatch up by rapidly extending its jaws. Small numbers of goblin sharks are unintentionally caught by deepwater fisheries. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as Least Concern, despite its rarity, citing its wide distribution and low incidence of capture. ( Full article...)
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Image 4The pigeye shark or Java shark ( Carcharhinus amboinensis) is an uncommon species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, found in the warm coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic and western Indo-Pacific. It prefers shallow, murky environments with soft bottoms, and tends to roam within a fairly localised area. With its bulky grey body, small eyes, and short, blunt snout, the pigeye shark looks almost identical to (and is often confused with) the better-known bull shark ( C. leucas). The two species differ in vertebral count, the relative sizes of the dorsal fins, and other subtle traits. This shark typically reaches lengths of 1.9–2.5 m (6.2–8.2 ft). The pigeye shark is an apex predator that mostly hunts low in the water column. It has a varied diet, consisting mainly of bony and cartilaginous fishes and also including crustaceans, molluscs, sea snakes, and cetaceans. This species gives birth to live young, with the developing embryos sustained to term via a placental connection to their mother. Litters of three to thirteen pups are born after a gestation period of nine or twelve months. Young sharks spend their first few years of life in sheltered inshore habitats such as bays, where their movements follow tidal and seasonal patterns. The pigeye shark's size and dentition make it potentially dangerous, though it has not been known to attack humans. The shark is infrequently caught in shark nets protecting beaches and by fisheries, which use it for meat and fins. The IUCN presently assesses this species as vulnerable. ( Full article...)
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Chrysomallon squamiferum from Longqi. Scale bar is 1 cm , commonly known as the scaly-foot gastropod, scaly-foot snail, sea pangolin, or volcano snail, is a species of deep-sea hydrothermal-vent snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Peltospiridae. This vent-endemic gastropod is known only from deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Indian Ocean, where it has been found at depths of about 2,400–2,900 m (1.5–1.8 mi). C. squamiferum differs greatly from other deep-sea gastropods, even the closely related neomphalines. In 2019, it was declared endangered on the IUCN Red List, the first species to be listed as such due to risks from deep-sea mining of its vent habitat. The shell is of a unique construction, with three layers; the outer layer consists of iron sulphides, the middle layer is equivalent to the organic periostracum found in other gastropods, and the innermost layer is made of aragonite. The foot is also unusual, being armored at the sides with iron-mineralised sclerites. ( Full article...)
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Main entrance in 2016, featuring the remodeled façade and fiberglass smokestacks of the Hovden Cannery is a nonprofit public aquarium in Monterey, California. Known for its regional focus on the marine habitats of Monterey Bay, it was the first to exhibit a living kelp forest when it opened in October 1984. Its biologists have pioneered the animal husbandry of jellyfish and it was the first to successfully care for and display a great white shark. The organization's research and conservation efforts also focus on sea otters, various birds, and tunas. Seafood Watch, a sustainable seafood advisory list published by the aquarium beginning in 1999, has influenced the discussion surrounding sustainable seafood. The aquarium was home to Otter 841 prior to her release into the wild as well as Rosa, the oldest living sea otter at the time of her death. Early proposals to build a public aquarium in Monterey County were not successful until a group of four marine biologists affiliated with Stanford University revisited the concept in the late 1970s. Monterey Bay Aquarium was built at the site of a defunct sardine cannery and has been recognized for its architectural achievements by the American Institute of Architects. Along with its architecture, the aquarium has won numerous awards for its exhibition of marine life, ocean conservation efforts, and educational programs. It is known for the artistry of its exhibits, which have featured Dale Chihuly glass, David Hockney pieces, 19th-century Ernst Haeckel lithographs and Douglas Morton music compositions. ( Full article...)
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Image 8The Sirenia ( sy-REE-nee-ə), commonly referred to as sea cows or sirenians, are an order of fully aquatic, herbivorous mammals that inhabit swamps, rivers, estuaries, marine wetlands, and coastal marine waters. The extant Sirenia comprise two distinct families: Dugongidae (the dugong and the now extinct Steller's sea cow) and Trichechidae ( manatees, namely the Amazonian manatee, West Indian manatee, and West African manatee) with a total of four species. The Protosirenidae (Eocene sirenians) and Prorastomidae (terrestrial sirenians) families are extinct. Sirenians are classified in the clade Paenungulata, alongside the elephants and the hyraxes, and evolved in the Eocene 50 million years ago (mya). The Dugongidae diverged from the Trichechidae in the late Eocene or early Oligocene (30–35 mya). Sirenians grow to between 2.5 and 4 metres (8.2 and 13.1 feet) in length and 1,500 kilograms (3,300 pounds) in weight. The recently extinct Steller's sea cow was the largest known sirenian to have lived, reaching lengths of 10 metres (33 feet) and weights of 5 to 10 tonnes (5.5 to 11.0 short tons). ( Full article...)
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Reconstruction of T. xiushanensis is a genus of eurypterid, an extinct group of aquatic arthropods. The type and only species of Terropterus, T. xiushanensis, is known from deposits of Early Silurian age in China. Terropterus was the earliest known and largest mixopterid eurypterid. Fossil specimens referred to T. xiushanensis are estimated to have reached up to 40 centimeters (15.7 in) in length, but other fossils, either representing older T. xiushanensis or a second species of Terropterus, demonstrate that members of the genus could reach upwards of at least 100 centimeters (3.3 ft) in length. Terropterus is the only mixopterid known from the ancient southern continent of Gondwana, with the other two mixopterid genera, Mixopterus and Lanarkopterus, only being known from what was once the northern continent of Laurussia. The discovery of Terropterus significantly expanded the known geographical and temporal ranges of the Mixopteridae. ( Full article...)
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Image 10Crustaceans (from Latin word "crustacea" meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthropods including the more familiar decapods ( shrimps, prawns, crabs, lobsters and crayfish), seed shrimps, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, opossum shrimps, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can be treated as a subphylum under the clade Mandibulata. It is now well accepted that the hexapods ( insects and entognathans) emerged deep in the crustacean group, with the completed pan-group referred to as Pancrustacea. The three classes Cephalocarida, Branchiopoda and Remipedia are more closely related to the hexapods than they are to any of the other crustaceans ( oligostracans and multicrustaceans). The 67,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at 0.1 mm (0.004 in), to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span of up to 3.8 m (12.5 ft) and a mass of 20 kg (44 lb). Like other arthropods, crustaceans have an exoskeleton, which they moult to grow. They are distinguished from other groups of arthropods, such as insects, myriapods and chelicerates, by the possession of biramous (two-parted) limbs, and by their larval forms, such as the nauplius stage of branchiopods and copepods. ( Full article...)
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An echinoderm () is any animal of the phylum Echinodermata (), which includes starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers, as well as the sessile sea lilies or "stone lilies". While bilaterally symmetrical as larvae, as adults echinoderms are recognisable by their usually five-pointed radial symmetry (pentamerous symmetry), and are found on the sea bed at every ocean depth from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone. The phylum contains about 7,600 living species, making it the second-largest group of deuterostomes after the chordates, as well as the largest marine-only phylum. The first definitive echinoderms appeared near the start of the Cambrian.
Echinoderms are important both ecologically and geologically. Ecologically, there are few other groupings so abundant in the deep sea, as well as shallower oceans. Most echinoderms are able to reproduce asexually and regenerate tissue, organs and limbs; in some cases, they can undergo complete regeneration from a single limb. Geologically, the value of echinoderms is in their ossified dermal endoskeletons, which are major contributors to many limestone formations and can provide valuable clues as to the geological environment. They were the most used species in regenerative research in the 19th and 20th centuries. Further, some scientists hold that the radiation of echinoderms was responsible for the Mesozoic Marine Revolution. (Full article...)
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Image 1Classic food web for grey seals in the Baltic Sea containing several typical marine food chains (from Marine food web)
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Image 3Prochlorococcus, an influential bacterium which produces much of the world's oxygen (from Marine food web)
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Image 4Pelagibacter ubique of the SAR11 clade is the most abundant bacteria in the ocean and plays a major role in the global carbon cycle. (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 5Dinoflagellate (from Marine food web)
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Image 7Lampreys are often parasitic and have a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth (from Marine vertebrate)
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Image 8Morphological diversity of fungi collected from a marine sponge species, Ircinia variabilis (from Marine fungi)
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Image 9Diatoms (from Marine food web)
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Image 10A microbial mat encrusted with iron oxide on the flank of a seamount can harbour microbial communities dominated by the iron-oxidizing Zetaproteobacteria (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 11"A variety of marine worms": plate from Das Meer by M.J. Schleiden (1804–1881) (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 12Tidepools on rocky shores make turbulent habitats for many forms of marine life (from Marine habitat)
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Image 13Mudflat pollution (from Marine habitat)
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Image 14The pelagic food web, showing the central involvement of marine microorganisms in how the ocean imports nutrients from and then exports them back to the atmosphere and ocean floor (from Marine food web)
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Image 15Antarctic marine food web. Potter Cove 2018. Vertical position indicates trophic level and node widths are proportional to total degree (in and out). Node colors represent functional groups. (from Marine food web)
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Image 16Salmon with fungal disease (from Marine fungi)
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Image 17Roles of fungi in the marine carbon cycle Roles of fungi in the marine carbon cycle by processing phytoplankton-derived organic matter. Parasitic fungi, as well as saprotrophic fungi, directly assimilate phytoplankton organic carbon. By releasing zoospores, the fungi bridge the trophic linkage to zooplankton, known as the mycoloop. By modifying the particulate and dissolved organic carbon, they can affect bacteria and the microbial loop. These processes may modify marine snow chemical composition and the subsequent functioning of the biological carbon pump. (from Marine fungi)
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Image 18Jellyfish are easy to capture and digest and may be more important as food sources than was previously thought. (from Marine food web)
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Image 19The distribution of anthropogenic stressors faced by marine species threatened with extinction in various marine regions of the world. Numbers in the pie charts indicate the percentage contribution of an anthropogenic stressors' impact in a specific marine region. (from Marine food web)
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Image 20Food web structure in the euphotic zone. The linear food chain large phytoplankton-herbivore-predator (on the left with red arrow connections) has fewer levels than one with small phytoplankton at the base. The microbial loop refers to the flow from the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) via heterotrophic bacteria (Het. Bac.) and microzooplankton to predatory zooplankton (on the right with black solid arrows). Viruses play a major role in the mortality of phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria, and recycle organic carbon back to the DOC pool. Other sources of dissolved organic carbon (also dashed black arrows) includes exudation, sloppy feeding, etc. Particulate detritus pools and fluxes are not shown for simplicity. (from Marine food web)
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Image 21Conference events, such as the events hosted by the United Nations, help to bring together many stakeholders for awareness and action. (from Marine conservation)
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Image 22Some representative ocean animal life (not drawn to scale) within their approximate depth-defined ecological habitats. Marine microorganisms exist on the surfaces and within the tissues and organs of the diverse life inhabiting the ocean, across all ocean habitats. (from Marine habitat)
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Image 23Sponges have no nervous, digestive or circulatory system (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 24The 49th plate from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904, showing various sea anemones classified as Actiniae, in the Cnidaria phylum (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 25Giant kelp is a foundation species for many kelp forests. (from Marine food web)
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Image 26Sea ice food web and the microbial loop. AAnP = aerobic anaerobic phototroph, DOC = dissolved organic carbon, DOM = dissolved organic matter, POC = particulate organic carbon, PR = proteorhodopsins. (from Marine food web)
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Image 27Seep and vent interactions with surrounding deep-sea ecosystems. The y axis is meters above bottom on a log scale. DOC: dissolved organic carbon, POC: particulate organic carbon, SMS: seafloor massive sulfide. (from Marine food web)
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Image 28This algae bloom occupies sunlit epipelagic waters off the southern coast of England. The algae are maybe feeding on nutrients from land runoff or upwellings at the edge of the continental shelf. (from Marine habitat)
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Image 30Phytoplankton (from Marine food web)
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Image 31The European eel being critically endangered impacts other animals such as this Grey Heron that also eats eels. (from Marine conservation)
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Image 32Mature forests have a lot of biomass invested in secondary growth which has low productivity (from Marine food web)
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Image 33 Kimberella, an early mollusc important for understanding the Cambrian explosion. Invertebrates are grouped into different phyla ( body plans). (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 34Common-enemy graph of Antarctic food web. Potter Cove 2018. Nodes represent basal species and links indirect interactions (shared predators). Node and link widths are proportional to number of shared predators. Node colors represent functional groups. (from Marine food web)
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Image 35Cryptic interactions in the marine food web. Red: mixotrophy; green: ontogenetic and species differences; purple: microbial cross‐feeding; orange: auxotrophy; blue: cellular carbon partitioning. (from Marine food web)
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Image 37Oil spills have a significant impact on the marine environment such as this image from space of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (from Marine conservation)
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Image 38Halfbeak as larvae are one of the organisms adapted to the unique properties of the microlayer (from Marine habitat)
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Image 39 The global continental shelf, highlighted in light green, defines the extent of marine coastal habitats, and occupies 5% of the total world area (from Marine habitat)
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Image 40Cycling of marine phytoplankton. Phytoplankton live in the photic zone of the ocean, where photosynthesis is possible. During photosynthesis, they assimilate carbon dioxide and release oxygen. If solar radiation is too high, phytoplankton may fall victim to photodegradation. For growth, phytoplankton cells depend on nutrients, which enter the ocean by rivers, continental weathering, and glacial ice meltwater on the poles. Phytoplankton release dissolved organic carbon (DOC) into the ocean. Since phytoplankton are the basis of marine food webs, they serve as prey for zooplankton, fish larvae and other heterotrophic organisms. They can also be degraded by bacteria or by viral lysis. Although some phytoplankton cells, such as dinoflagellates, are able to migrate vertically, they are still incapable of actively moving against currents, so they slowly sink and ultimately fertilize the seafloor with dead cells and detritus. (from Marine food web)
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Image 41The oligotrich ciliate has been characterised as the most important herbivore in the ocean (from Marine food web)
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Image 42Estuaries occur when rivers flow into a coastal bay or inlet. They are nutrient rich and have a transition zone which moves from freshwater to saltwater. (from Marine habitat)
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Image 43Technology such as this turtle excluder device (TED) allows this loggerhead sea turtle to escape. (from Marine conservation)
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Image 44Generalized or hypothetical ancestral mollusc (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 46640 μm microplastic found in the deep sea amphipod Eurythenes plasticus (from Marine habitat)
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Image 47Lichen covered rocks (from Marine fungi)
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Image 48Hagfish are the only known living animals with a skull but no vertebral column. (from Marine vertebrate)
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Image 49Bacterioplankton and the pelagic marine food web Solar radiation can have positive (+) or negative (−) effects resulting in increases or decreases in the heterotrophic activity of bacterioplankton. (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 50Reconstruction of an ammonite, a highly successful early cephalopod that first appeared in the Devonian (about 400 mya). They became extinct during the same extinction event that killed the land dinosaurs (about 66 mya). (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 52Oceanic pelagic food web showing energy flow from micronekton to top predators. Line thickness is scaled to the proportion in the diet. (from Marine food web)
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Image 53Marine protected areas are one area of legislation that helps marine ecosystems to thrive. (from Marine conservation)
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Image 54Mycoloop links between phytoplankton and zooplankton Chytrid‐mediated trophic links between phytoplankton and zooplankton (mycoloop). While small phytoplankton species can be grazed upon by zooplankton, large phytoplankton species constitute poorly edible or even inedible prey. Chytrid infections on large phytoplankton can induce changes in palatability, as a result of host aggregation (reduced edibility) or mechanistic fragmentation of cells or filaments (increased palatability). First, chytrid parasites extract and repack nutrients and energy from their hosts in form of readily edible zoospores. Second, infected and fragmented hosts including attached sporangia can also be ingested by grazers (i.e. concomitant predation). (from Marine fungi)
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Image 55Whales were close to extinction until legislation was put in place. (from Marine conservation)
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Image 57Starfish larvae are bilaterally symmetric, whereas the adults have fivefold symmetry (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 59Elevation-area graph showing the proportion of land area at given heights and the proportion of ocean area at given depths (from Marine habitat)
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Image 60Earth's magnetic field (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 61Cnidarians are the simplest animals with cells organised into tissues. Yet the starlet sea anemone contains the same genes as those that form the vertebrate head. (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 62Eukaryote versus prokaryote (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 63The deep sea amphipod Eurythenes plasticus, named after microplastics found in its body, demonstrating plastic pollution affects marine habitats even 6000m below sea level. (from Marine habitat)
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Image 64Diagram of a mycoloop (fungus loop) Parasitic chytrids can transfer material from large inedible phytoplankton to zooplankton. Chytrids zoospores are excellent food for zooplankton in terms of size (2–5 μm in diameter), shape, nutritional quality (rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and cholesterols). Large colonies of host phytoplankton may also be fragmented by chytrid infections and become edible to zooplankton. (from Marine fungi)
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Image 65Topological positions versus mobility: (A) bottom-up groups (sessile and drifters), (B) groups at the top of the food web. Phyto, phytoplankton; MacroAlga, macroalgae; Proto, pelagic protozoa; Crus, Crustacea; PelBact, pelagic bacteria; Echino, Echinoderms; Amph, Amphipods; HerbFish, herbivorous fish; Zoopl, zooplankton; SuspFeed, suspension feeders; Polych, polychaetes; Mugil, Mugilidae; Gastropod, gastropods; Blenny, omnivorous blennies; Decapod, decapods; Dpunt, Diplodus puntazzo; Macropl, macroplankton; PlFish, planktivorous fish; Cephalopod, cephalopods; Mcarni, macrocarnivorous fish; Pisc, piscivorous fish; Bird, seabirds; InvFeed1 through InvFeed4, benthic invertebrate feeders. (from Marine food web)
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Image 66Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) being prevented by a Japanese fisheries patrol. (from Marine conservation)
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Image 67Land runoff, pouring into the sea, can contain nutrients (from Marine habitat)
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Image 69Predator fish ( foxface) size up schooling forage fish (from Marine food web)
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Image 70Model of the energy generating mechanism in marine bacteria (1) When sunlight strikes a rhodopsin molecule (2) it changes its configuration so a proton is expelled from the cell (3) the chemical potential causes the proton to flow back to the cell (4) thus generating energy (5) in the form of adenosine triphosphate. (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 71Estimates of microbial species counts in the three domains of life Bacteria are the oldest and most biodiverse group, followed by Archaea and Fungi (the most recent groups). In 1998, before awareness of the extent of microbial life had gotten underway, Robert M. May estimated there were 3 million species of living organisms on the planet. But in 2016, Locey and Lennon estimated the number of microorganism species could be as high as 1 trillion. (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 72Waves and currents shape the intertidal shoreline, eroding the softer rocks and transporting and grading loose particles into shingles, sand or mud (from Marine habitat)
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Image 73Export processes in the ocean from remote sensing (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 74On average there are more than one million microbial cells in every drop of seawater, and their collective metabolisms not only recycle nutrients that can then be used by larger organisms but also catalyze key chemical transformations that maintain Earth's habitability. (from Marine food web)
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Image 75Ocean surface chlorophyll concentrations in October 2019. The concentration of chlorophyll can be used as a proxy to indicate how many phytoplankton are present. Thus on this global map green indicates where a lot of phytoplankton are present, while blue indicates where few phytoplankton are present. – NASA Earth Observatory 2019. (from Marine food web)
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Image 76Reconstruction of Otavia antiqua, possibly the first animal about 760 million years ago (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 77Phylogenetic and symbiogenetic tree of living organisms, showing a view of the origins of eukaryotes and prokaryotes (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 78Archaea were initially viewed as extremophiles living in harsh environments, such as the yellow archaea pictured here in a hot spring, but they have since been found in a much broader range of habitats. (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 79Schematic representation of the changes in abundance between trophic groups in a temperate rocky reef ecosystem. (a) Interactions at equilibrium. (b) Trophic cascade following disturbance. In this case, the otter is the dominant predator and the macroalgae are kelp. Arrows with positive (green, +) signs indicate positive effects on abundance while those with negative (red, -) indicate negative effects on abundance. The size of the bubbles represents the change in population abundance and associated altered interaction strength following disturbance. (from Marine food web)
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Image 80Ocean Conservation Namibia rescuing a seal that was entangled in discarded fishing nets. (from Marine conservation)
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Image 81Mangroves provide nurseries for fish (from Marine habitat)
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Image 82Two Nanoarchaeum equitans cells with its larger host Ignicoccus (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 83This timeline contains clickable links
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Image 84An in situ perspective of a deep pelagic food web derived from ROV-based observations of feeding, as represented by 20 broad taxonomic groupings. The linkages between predator to prey are coloured according to predator group origin, and loops indicate within-group feeding. The thickness of the lines or edges connecting food web components is scaled to the log of the number of unique ROV feeding observations across the years 1991–2016 between the two groups of animals. The different groups have eight colour-coded types according to main animal types as indicated by the legend and defined here: red, cephalopods; orange, crustaceans; light green, fish; dark green, medusa; purple, siphonophores; blue, ctenophores and grey, all other animals. In this plot, the vertical axis does not correspond to trophic level, because this metric is not readily estimated for all members. (from Marine food web)
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Image 85Role of fungi in ocean carbon sequestration This representation includes the traditionally neglected pelagic fungi, both parasitic and saprotrophic, highlighting the central role played by them, parasitic fungi in the mycoloop, and saprotrophic fungi as active contributors to the microbial loop. As depicted by this diagram, the activity of heterotrophic microbes, including pelagic fungi, has far-reaching global implications for fisheries (i.e., the amount of carbon that will ultimately flow to higher trophic levels) and climate change (i.e., the amount of carbon that will be sequestered in the ocean or respired back to CO 2 and the release of other greenhouse gases; e.g., N 2O). (from Marine fungi)
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Image 86 Bloom of the filamentous cyanobacteria Trichodesmium (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 87In the open ocean, sunlit surface epipelagic waters get enough light for photosynthesis, but there are often not enough nutrients. As a result, large areas contain little life apart from migrating animals. (from Marine habitat)
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Image 88Mudflats become temporary habitats for migrating birds (from Marine habitat)
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Image 89Ocean particulate organic matter (POM) as imaged by a satellite in 2011 (from Marine food web)
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Image 90Chytrid parasites of marine diatoms. (A) Chytrid sporangia on Pleurosigma sp. The white arrow indicates the operculate discharge pore. (B) Rhizoids (white arrow) extending into diatom host. (C) Chlorophyll aggregates localized to infection sites (white arrows). (D and E) Single hosts bearing multiple zoosporangia at different stages of development. The white arrow in panel E highlights branching rhizoids. (F) Endobiotic chytrid-like sporangia within diatom frustule. Bars = 10 μm. (from Marine fungi)
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Image 91Scale diagram of the layers of the pelagic zone (from Marine habitat)
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Image 92The Ocean Cleanup is one of many organizations working toward marine conservation such at this interceptor vessel that prevents plastic from entering the ocean. (from Marine conservation)
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Image 93Ernst Haeckel's 96th plate, showing some marine invertebrates. Marine invertebrates have a large variety of body plans, which are currently categorised into over 30 phyla. (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 94NOAA scuba diver surveying bleached corals. (from Marine conservation)
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Image 95Sandy shores provide shifting homes to many species (from Marine habitat)
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Image 97A 2016 metagenomic representation of the tree of life using ribosomal protein sequences. The tree includes 92 named bacterial phyla, 26 archaeal phyla and five eukaryotic supergroups. Major lineages are assigned arbitrary colours and named in italics with well-characterized lineage names. Lineages lacking an isolated representative are highlighted with non-italicized names and red dots. (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 98Microplastics found in sediments on the seafloor (from Marine habitat)
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Image 99Kelp forests provide habitat for many marine organisms (from Marine habitat)
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Image 100Diagram above contains clickable links
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Image 101Phylogenetic tree representing bacterial OTUs from clone libraries and next-generation sequencing. OTUs from next-generation sequencing are displayed if the OTU contained more than two sequences in the unrarefied OTU table (3626 OTUs). (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 103A food web is network of food chains, and as such can be represented graphically and analysed using techniques from network theory. (from Marine food web)
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Image 104Humpback whale straining krill (from Marine food web)
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Image 105Pennate diatom from an Arctic meltpond, infected with two chytrid-like [zoo-]sporangium fungal pathogens (in false-colour red). Scale bar = 10 μm. (from Marine food web)
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Image 106Anthropogenic stressors to marine species threatened with extinction (from Marine food web)
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Image 107Conceptual diagram of faunal community structure and food-web patterns along fluid-flux gradients within Guaymas seep and vent ecosystems. (from Marine food web)
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Image 108The umbrella mouth gulper eel can swallow a fish much larger than itself (from Marine habitat)
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Image 109Scanning electron micrograph of a strain of Roseobacter, a widespread and important genus of marine bacteria. For scale, the membrane pore size is 0.2 μm in diameter. (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 110Sea spray containing marine microorganisms, including prokaryotes, can be swept high into the atmosphere where they become aeroplankton, and can travel the globe before falling back to earth. (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 111Driftwood (from Marine fungi)
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Image 112Only 29 percent of the world surface is land. The rest is ocean, home to the marine habitats. The oceans are nearly four kilometres deep on average and are fringed with coastlines that run for nearly 380,000 kilometres.
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Image 113The range of sizes shown by prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) and viruses relative to those of other organisms and biomolecules (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 114Pennate diatom from an Arctic meltpond, infected with two chytrid-like [zoo-]sporangium fungal pathogens (in false-colour red). Scale bar = 10 μm. (from Marine fungi)
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Image 115Arrow worms are predatory components of plankton worldwide. (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 116Phylogenetic and symbiogenetic tree of living organisms, showing a view of the origins of eukaryotes and prokaryotes (from Marine fungi)
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Image 117Some lobe-finned fishes, like the extinct Tiktaalik, developed limb-like fins that could take them onto land (from Marine vertebrate)
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Image 118Vibrio vulnificus, a virulent bacterium found in estuaries and along coastal areas (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 119A protected sea turtle area that warns of fines and imprisonment on a beach in Miami, Florida. (from Marine conservation)
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Image 120Biomass pyramids. Compared to terrestrial biomass pyramids, aquatic pyramids are generally inverted at the base. (from Marine food web)
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Image 121Different bacteria shapes ( cocci, rods and spirochetes) and their sizes compared with the width of a human hair. A few bacteria are comma-shaped ( vibrio). Archaea have similar shapes, though the archaeon Haloquadratum is flat and square. The unit μm is a measurement of length, the micrometer, equal to 1/1,000 of a millimeter (from Marine prokaryotes)
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Image 122Ocean or marine biomass, in a reversal of terrestrial biomass, can increase at higher trophic levels. (from Marine food web)
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Image 123 Dickinsonia may be the earliest animal. They appear in the fossil record 571 million to 541 million years ago. (from Marine invertebrates)
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Image 124Marine Species Changes in Latitude and Depth in three different ocean regions(1973–2019) (from Marine food web)
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Image 125Coastlines can be volatile habitats (from Marine habitat)
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Image 126Coral reefs provide marine habitats for tube sponges, which in turn become marine habitats for fishes (from Marine habitat)
The following are images from various marine life-related articles on Wikipedia.
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Image 1Coral reef (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 2Mangrove forests (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 3Hagfish are the only known living animals with a skull but no vertebral column. (from Marine vertebrate)
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Image 4Coral reefs form complex marine ecosystems with tremendous biodiversity. (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 5Estuaries (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 6Kelp forest (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 7In the fourth century BC, Aristotle gave accurate descriptions of the embryological development of the hound shark Mustelus mustelus. (from History of marine biology)
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Image 8Lagoon (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 9Sea spray containing marine microorganisms can be swept high into the atmosphere, where it becomes part of the aeroplankton and may travel the globe before falling back to earth. (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 10Salt marshes (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 12Lampreys are often parasitic and have a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth (from Marine vertebrate)
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Image 13A science ROV being retrieved by an oceanographic research vessel. (from History of marine biology)
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Image 14General characteristics of a large marine ecosystem (Gulf of Alaska) (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 16Global distribution of coral, mangrove, and seagrass diversity (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 17Intertidal zones (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 18Ecosystem services delivered by epibenthic bivalve reefs. Reefs provide coastal protection through erosion control and shoreline stabilization, and modify the physical landscape by ecosystem engineering, thereby providing habitat for species by facilitative interactions with other habitats such as tidal flat benthic communities, seagrasses and marshes. (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 19The voyage of the Beagle (from History of marine biology)
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Image 20Global map of large marine ecosystems. Oceanographers and biologists have identified 66 LMEs worldwide. (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 21Seagrass meadow (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 22Drivers of change in marine ecosystems (from Marine ecosystem)
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Image 24Some lobe-finned fishes, like the extinct Tiktaalik, developed limb-like fins that could take them onto land (from Marine vertebrate)
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Image 25Model of a Greek boat (from History of marine biology)
- ... Until the late 16th century sharks were usually referred to in the English language as sea-dogs. The name "Shark" first came into use around the late 1560s to refer to the large sharks of the Caribbean Sea.
- ... The ear bone called the hammer (malleus) in cetaceans is fused to the walls of the bone cavity where the ear bones are, making hearing in air nearly impossible. Instead sound is transmitted through their jaws and skull bones.
- ... Migaloo is an albino Humpback Whale often spotted off the east coast of Australia.
- ... cetaceans with pointed beaks have good binocular vision, but others, such as the Sperm Whale cannot see directly in front or behind.
- ... baleen from the Mysticeti whales mouths was used to stiffen parts of women's stays and dresses, like corsets
- ... there are probably types of cetaceans that are as yet unknown. For example, the Longman's beaked whale is only known from skulls washed ashore in Somalia and Australia. It has never been seen alive!
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