MARINE BIOLOGY

What is marine biology?

Marine biology is the study of life in the
ocean.
Fact 1:
This huge body of saltwater covers
about two-thirds of our planet's
surface and contains many
different marine ecosystems. Life
within it is more diverse than life on
land!
Fact 2:
Our planet is made up of five great oceans: the
Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern.
They're all linked together, creating a huge
body of saltwater called the World Ocean. It
surrounds continents and islands, covering
more than 70% of Earth's surface.
Fact 3:
This large body of water is always in motion. The pull of
gravity from the Sun and the Moon creates tides that in turn
create ocean currents. Currents shape our planet’s weather
and climate by moving warm water from the tropics and
cold water from the poles. And they move not only water, but
also life within it, from giant jellyfish to tiny plankton.
Fact 4:
The Ocean Has Many Different Ecosystems.
From above, the ocean may seem like one big, uniform mass
of water . But look beneath the waves, and you’ll see tall
mountains, deep trenches, and wide plateaux. These
seascapes are formed over millions of years by geologic
processes such as erosion, deposition, and plate tectonic
forces.
Further from shore and deeper into the depths, conditions
such as light, temperature, pressure, and salinity vary,
giving rise to vastly different ecosystems, from coral reefs to
polar seas to the sea floor. An ecosystem is a community of
living things. Members survive by interacting with each other
and with their environment. In fact, there are more kinds of
ecosystems in the ocean than on land!
Fact 5:
The Ocean Teems with Life. Many more organisms of
different kinds live in the ocean than on land.
They range from gigantic whales to microscopic
phytoplankton and everything between: jellyfish, sponges,
sea dragons, marlins, giant squid, hatchet fish, seaweed,
starfish, sea cucumbers, manatees, coelacanths, and
stingrays, to name a few.
Humpback whales communicate with one another with beautiful
underwater “songs” that travel long distances through water.
Most jellyfish can swim by squeezing the bell-shaped parts of their
bodies, pushing water out. Lots of animals eat them, including humans.
To protect themselves from predators, many jellyfish can sting.
Sea sponges live in clear salt water. The water flows through holes in
their bodies, bringing them food and oxygen and taking away waste.
These invertebrate animals don’t have hearts or brains!
Like their relatives the seahorses, seadragons are a kind of marine
fish that live in coastal waters. To help them hide, they have small
fronds on their bodies that look like seaweed. Seadragon dads take
care of the eggs before they hatch.
Marlins are big, fast fish that can weigh more than a cow. They use
their long, spear-like snouts to kill prey, smaller fish including
mackerel and tuna.
Way down in the dark, deep ocean live the hatchetfish. Their bodies
are so thin, they resemble the blade of an ax. Their eyes point
upward to help them see food in the water above them. Hatchetfish
are also bioluminescent: they emit light from different body parts to
to confuse their predators or to attract mates.
Seaweed is a type of algae that grows in saltwater, often attached
to rocks near the coasts. Like plants, seaweed gets energy from
sunlight. Many kinds of seaweed use air pockets to float, keeping
them near the sunlit surface.
Often called “ starfish ,” sea stars aren’t fish at all. They’re
invertebrates: animals that have no backbone. Sea stars have the
ability to regenerate. If a fish bites off a sea star’s arm, it can grow a
new one!
Sea cucumbers live on the ocean floor around the world. They are
scavengers: they scoop up sand mixed with dead and discarded
matter and poop out the clean sand. Like living filters, they help
clean up their surroundings.
These marine mammals live in warm coastal waters and rivers,
where they forage for plants and algae. Manatees may look like
seals, but they’re more closely related to elephants.
In 1938, fishermen off the east coast of Africa pulled up a strange fish
in their nets. It turned out to be a coelacanth (SEE-la-canth), an
animal that scientists thought had been extinct for almost 80 million
years!
With their wide, winglike fins, eagle rays seem to fly through the
water. Electrosensory organs on their snouts help them find shellfish
and other food buried in sand or mud.
Hawksbill sea turtles spend most of their lives in shallow coastal
waters, near their favorite food, sea sponges. But when it’s time to
lay their eggs, they can migrate vast distances. Because people hunt
them for their beautiful shells and disturb the beaches where they
lay their eggs, hawksbill sea turtles are critically endangered.
Monk seals are endangered mammals that live in warm, coastal
waters. Their slippery, streamlined bodies and flippers make them
good swimmers.
With their long legs, spider crabs look like the spiders they’re named
after. To make up for their poor eyesight, they can sense their
environment with organs at the ends of their legs!
These large snails can sometimes grow more than 30 centimeters (12
inches) long! The insides of their shells are glossy pink or orange.
Queen conches can wander for miles across the sea floor, eating
algae, sea grasses, and dead material.
Tube anemones may look like a plant that lives on the ocean floor,
but they’re actually carnivorous animals. They have hundreds of
tentacles that they use to grab prey, such as small crustaceans that
swim near.
Fact 6:
The Ocean Is Like a Layer Cake.
The sunlit zone, near the top, is rich in life. Eighty percent of
all marine organisms live near the shore. They live in
ecosystems found along the continental shelves , such as
coral reefs, mangroves, kelp forests, and estuaries. In these
sunlit, shallow waters close to land, they find the conditions
needed to support large quantities of life: food, light, and
shelter.
Algae, a group of photosynthetic organisms, also live in the
sunlit zone. They contain green, brown, and red pigments
that enable them to convert the Sun’s energy into food,
providing huge quantities of food for the animals that live
among them. Further out in the open ocean, large blooms of
algae also provide food for the billions of deep-sea animals
that rise to feed near the surface at night, and then return to
the deep at dawn. This vertical migration is the largest mass
movement of life on Earth. And it happens every night!
As you dive deeper and deeper down from the surface to
twilight zone, less and less sunlight penetrates the water. It’s
colder and darker here, and there's less life. The organisms
that live here survive on zooplankton and sea snow , food
that falls from above.
And way down deep is the dark zone, where signs of life are
rare. Here, the pitch-black water is icy cold and its pressure
is intense enough to crush a human. Some animals here have
glowing lights on their bodies. This ability to generate light,
called bioluminescence , helps them find food and mates.
Life Began in
the Ocean
From studying fossils, scientists
know that life on Earth probably
started in the oceans about 3.5
billion years ago, soon after the
oceans themselves formed.
The first life forms to appear were single-celled,
microscopic marine organisms, followed by multicellular
organisms. For most of Earth's history, life stayed in the
oceans and thrived there. About 500 million years ago,
some four-limbed marine vertebrates began adapting to
life on land. Their descendants became the first land-
dwelling vertebrates—and our ancestors! Many more
millions of years later, a few types of land animals began
adapting back to life in the ocean, and some of their
descendants—such as dolphins and whales—now live in the
ocean full time.
The Ocean is Full of
Mysteries
Scientists know less about what's actually in the ocean than
they know about the dark side of the Moon! Less than five
percent of the ocean has been explored. And for every new
species that we recognize, there may be hundreds more yet to
be discovered.
But now, with scuba-diving gear, submersibles, satellites, and
other technology, we can start to investigate parts of the
ocean that were once beyond our reach.
This submersible is equipped with technology to explore the deep ocean. Its thick
acrylic dome can withstand intense underwater pressure, allowing marine biologists
to dive deep. Specialized lights and cameras illuminate and capture images of marine
organisms. A mechanical claw with foam-padded fingers (inset) can wrap gently
around delicate specimens.
To photograph the glow of biofluorescent organisms, scientists dive with specially
designed, high-resolution underwater cameras.
Scientists use newly designed tracking tags that attach better to large marine
animals. These tags can record data, such as sounds, pictures, and location
information.
To study ocean currents, scientists use small devices called mini-autonomous
underwater explorers (m-AUEs) that can drift with the current.
REMUS, an autonomous underwater vehicle, is being lowered into the ocean. It uses
sonar to investigate plankton and the animals that eat them.
Human Activity is Harming
the Ocean
We've always depended on the ocean: mostly
for food, but also for resources like oil, sand,
and salt. Over the years, though, we've taken
too much out of the ocean, and we've put too
much in: pollutants like fertilizers, pesticides,
plastic, motor oil, and trash.
It’s hard to comprehend that something as huge as the ocean
can be fragile. But today, many marine species have been
driven to the edge of extinction by overfishing and hunting.
Development encroaches on our coastlines. Pollution stretches
from shore to shore. And as we burn fossil fuels, we release
carbon dioxide (CO2), which causes the atmosphere and
oceans to warm. The gas also dissolves in water, making it
more acidic; ocean CO2 levels are higher than they’ve been in
20 million years. These changes threaten many organisms and
entire ecosystems.
 How can we
protect the ocean?
We can understand more about it and the organisms that live
there. People and governments can also work together to
manage human impact.