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Portal:Marine life

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A male whale shark at the Georgia Aquarium.

The Marine Life Portal

Killer whales (orcas) are highly visible marine apex predators that hunt many large species. But most biological activity in the ocean takes place with microscopic marine organisms that cannot be seen individually with the naked eye, such as marine bacteria and phytoplankton.

Marine life, sea life or ocean life is the collective 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. An average of 2,332 new species per year are being described. Marine life is studied scientifically in both marine biology and in biological oceanography.

Today, marine species range in size from the microscopic phytoplankton, which can be as small as 0.02–micrometres; 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...)

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Ernst 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.

Marine invertebrates are the invertebrates that live in marine habitats. Invertebrate is a blanket term that includes all animals apart from the vertebrate members of the chordate phylum. Invertebrates lack a vertebral column, and some have evolved a shell or a hard exoskeleton. As on land and in the air, marine invertebrates have a large variety of body plans, and have been categorised into over 30 phyla. They make up most of the macroscopic life in the oceans. (Full article...)

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  • ... The ancient Greek scientist and writer Aristotle studied and wrote about how sharks mate over 2300 years ago.
  • ... that the Southern Right Whale got its name because it was the ‘right’ whale to kill? Because they swim slowly, close to the shore and float when killed, the whalers thought them the right whales to kill!
  • ... dolphins often leap clear of the water when travelling at speed. This is because the density of water is much greater than that of air and they are able to travel faster by leaping out of the water.
  • ... in spite of their enormous mass, baleen whales are capable of leaping completely out of the water, particularly the Humpback Whale.
  • ... newborn cetacean calves ‘suckle’ three to four times each hour and will suckle from their mothers for six months or more.
  • ... the Sperm Whale, at 18 metres long, is the largest toothed animal to have ever lived.

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Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) near Punta Arena, Chile.
Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) near Punta Arena, Chile.
Photo credit: NASA

The Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) is a South American penguin, breeding in coastal Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands, with some migrating to Brazil. It is the most numerous of the Spheniscus penguins. Its nearest relatives are the African Penguin, the Humboldt Penguin and the Galápagos Penguin.

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