Away from all land lies the ocean. It covers more than half the surface of the planet, yet for the most part it is beyond our reach. Much of it is virtually empty, a watery desert. All life that is in the ocean is locked in a constant search to find food, undergoing a struggle to conserve precious energy in the open ocean.
The biggest of all fish, thirty tons in weight and twelve meters long is a whale shark. Its huge bulk is sustained by almost microscopic creatures , plankton. Whale sharks cruise on regular habitual routes between the best feeding routes. In February this will take them to the surface waters far from the coast of Venezuela. The fish all come for the same reason, to feed on the plankton. Other fishes are there as well, and the whale shark will eat other types of fish as well, in its search for plankton. The shark whale must grab what it can when it can ….

Many predators spend much of their time cruising the open ocean, in an endless search for food. Plankton feeding rays can be seen doing so, gliding in the ocean. The white tip shark is an energy efficient traveler, specializing in locating prey in the emptiest areas of the open ocean, patrolling the top 100 meters of the ocean water. Taste in water is the equivalent of smell in the air, and the white tip shark is able to detect even the faintest trace. Small pilot fish will swim with the shark, as the shark can find prey much easier then they can, and so they are able to collect the scraps from the shark’s meals. The shark is a hunter, endlessly waiting. It does not always immediately go for the kill, many times it waits, watching, searching for the weaker prey in a school of fish.

Dolphins will often be seen traveling in large numbers searching for food. Scanning the water with their sonar, they know exactly where their targets are. It’s difficult for just a single dolphin to catch the fish, and so to avoid wasting energy, they work as a group. They will drive the fish upward, trapping them against the surface. The dolphin also help out surface predators like birds, which collect the fish by diving down while the fish are close enough. The dolphin will leave once they have had their fill.

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Most vertebrates belong to the clade Osteichtheys, this name means “bony fish”. Nearly all of the osteichthyans have an ossified bony endoskeleton, with a matrix made of calcium phosphate. If you have not already guessed, the osteichthyans are commonly known as the many fishes of the sea. Terminology in the biology world is quite long and complex …. So we will try to keep it a little simpler.

Most fish breathe by drawing the water in over their four or five gills. The water that is drawn in goes through the mouth then through the pharynx and then out through the gills again, this is all done through the contracting muscles of the gill chambers. As far as buoyancy (the upward force that keeps things afloat) goes, fish control their buoyancy by use of an air sac known as a swim bladder. The moving of gases from the blood to the swim bladder will increase the animals buoyancy, making it rise. The opposite process, as the gas moves back to the blood, makes the fish sink.

In nearly all fishes, bony scales cover the skin. The scales are covered by a slimy mucus that is secreted by the glands in the skin. This will reduce their drag under the water, and if you have ever gone fishing, or picked up a fish, you know just how slimy and slippery the fish really are. Most fish reproduce by external fertilization in which the female will lay many small eggs, and the male will go around to fertilize them. On the other hand, some fish do reproduce internally.

Most of the fish that we are familiar with are ray-finned fishes. They are so called because their fins are mainly supported by bony rays. Moreover, their rays may be modified for defense and some other functions. The ray finned fishes probably originated in the fresh waters and then spread out to the seas. Some of these ray finned fishes are still in the fresh waters, and you probably know many of them, like salmon and trout. Some of these fish even go back and forth from saltwater to freshwater. You probably also remember the ray-finned fishes as a source of food that’s on your dinner plate. For humans, these fishes are a major source of protein. In fact, we have over-fished many of these ray finned fishes. Cod for instance, was during the early 90’s restricted due to the over-fishing. In fact, Cod levels have yet to return to normal.

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Marine life – sea creatures

So you thought that all of the interesting creatures lived on land? You know, the lions, the tigers, the bears… well think again! Ocean waters cover 71% of the earth’s surface! The depths of the ocean include the inner tidal zone (the coastal land that is daily covered and uncovered by seawater) to the deepest ocean depth of about 33,000 feet or 10,000 meters. In addition to terrestrial biomes, the earth is also home to marine and aquatic biomes. There are five major types of ocean biomes: Costal waters, near shore zones, coral reefs, open oceans, and vent communities.

All of these unique biomes harbor many interesting forms of life! The costal waters are usually shallow enough to allow sunlight reach a variety of algae; costal rivers also supply many nutrients to the abundant and diverse life in this inter-tidal zone. Because of the rising and falling of the tides, the plants and animals such as scallops, crabs, barnacles, and sea anemones must survive the exposures to both air and water. The near shore zone lies beyond the inter-tidal zone and is more stable since there is no direct exposure to air, so organisms in this zone are strictly aquatic. Kelp plants protect and nourish the abundant life in these shallow waters. Coral Reefs are often found in warm tropical waters. The reefs are formed from the skeletons of the various species of coral. Sponges, sea anemones and hundreds of species of fish add a variety of color to this diverse community of plants and animals. The open ocean is populated by different species of microscopic plant organisms such as phytoplankton which are consumed by the microscopic animals called zooplankton which are consumed by various species of fish and sea mammals such as whales. The vent communities lie in the great depths of the abyssal zone where there is no light. For the most part, this zone is cold and barren. Without sunlight to provide an energy source, it was thought that very few life forms could survive. However, there are openings in the earth that look like small volcanoes called vents, which provide heat and nutrients to strange clusters of tube worms, white crabs and clams, creatures of the wondrous world of the marine biome.

Yet this marine life changes over time, this only adds to the amazing qualities about sea life. So how has marine life changed through time? Marine life includes all organisms which live and depend on the ocean for their survival. Some oceanographers study the history of life on earth by looking at marine fossils in which minerals have preserve the skeletons of ancient plants and animals in rock layers. Some of these are more than 6 million years old. Descendents of these ancient sea animals still live today. Many of them still resemble their ancestors. Many have adapted however into quite different creatures. Over time these adaptations (body shape, body functions, color, and camouflage) all help the creature live in the sea.
So, now have I convinced you just how amazing sea creatures are? I am sure I have. So fashion your seat belts, your going on an underwater adventure.

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