Portal:Marine life

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–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...)

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While marine pollution can be obvious, as with the marine debris shown above, it is often the pollutants that cannot be seen that cause most harm.

Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural, and residential waste; particles; noise; excess carbon dioxide; or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there. The majority of this waste (80%) comes from land-based activity, although marine transportation significantly contributes as well. It is a combination of chemicals and trash, most of which comes from land sources and is washed or blown into the ocean. This pollution results in damage to the environment, to the health of all organisms, and to economic structures worldwide. Since most inputs come from land, via rivers, sewage, or the atmosphere, it means that continental shelves are more vulnerable to pollution. Air pollution is also a contributing factor, as it carries iron, carbonic acid, nitrogen, silicon, sulfur, pesticides, and dust particles into the ocean. The pollution often comes from nonpoint sources such as agricultural runoff, wind-blown debris, and dust. These nonpoint sources are largely due to runoff that enters the ocean through rivers, but wind-blown debris and dust can also play a role, as these pollutants can settle into waterways and oceans. Pathways of pollution include direct discharge, land runoff, ship pollution, bilge pollution, dredging (which can create dredge plumes), atmospheric pollution and, potentially, deep sea mining.

The types of marine pollution can be grouped as pollution from marine debris, plastic pollution, including microplastics, ocean acidification, nutrient pollution, toxins, and underwater noise. Plastic pollution in the ocean is a type of marine pollution by plastics, ranging in size from large original material such as bottles and bags, down to microplastics formed from the fragmentation of plastic materials. Marine debris is mainly discarded human rubbish which floats on, or is suspended in the ocean. Plastic pollution is harmful to marine life. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various marine life-related articles on Wikipedia.

Did you know (auto-generated)

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  • ... the Orca, is the fastest swimmer of all the cetaceans and can reach speeds of more than 50km/h while hunting.
  • ... when southern right whale and humpback whales breach (leap out of the water), seagulls can often be seen darting in to pick up pieces of skin that become dislodged from the breaching whales. Presumably this is an easy source of food for seagulls.
  • ... You have a greater chance of being struck by lightning, drowning in a bathtub, fatally falling down stairs, or dying from a bee sting than being killed by a shark.
  • ... A shark can sense a turtle, octopus or other prey from up to 20m away.
  • ... Sharks have been around longer than trees!
  • ... 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!

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Aquatic organisms
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Brackish water organisms
Freshwater organisms
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Organisms living on hydrothermal vents
Marine microorganisms
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Marine biology
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  • Major Fields of Marine Biology: Marine Biology - Ecology - Zoology - Animal Taxonomy
  • Specific Fields of Marine Biology:Herpetology - Ichthyology - Planktology - Ornithology
  • Biologists:Zoologists - Algologists - Malacologists - Conchologists - Biologists - Marine Biologists - Anatomists - Botanists - Ecologists - Ichthyologists
  • Organisms:
  • Plants: Algae - Brown Algae - Green Algae - Red Algae - Edible seaweeds -
  • Invertebrates:Cnidarians - Echinoderms - Molluscs - Bivalves - Cephalopods - Gastropods
  • Fish: Fish - Bony fish - Lobe-finned fish - Ray-finned fish - Cartilaginous fish - Electric fish - Fish diseases - Rays - Sharks - Extinct fish - Fictional fish - Fisheries science - Fishing - Fishkeeping - Live-bearing fish
  • Reptiles and Amphibians: Marine reptiles - Sea turtles - Mosasaurs - Sauropterygians
  • Mammals: Marine mammals - Cetaceans - Pinnipeds - Sirenians
  • Misc.: Aquariums - Oceanaria - Agnatha - Endangered species - Aquatic biomes - Biogeographic realms - Aquatic organisms - Cyanobacteria - Dinoflaggellates

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Photo credit: OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP)

The French angelfish, Pomacanthus paru, is a member of the Marine angelfish family.

Marine angelfishes are a type of perciform fish of the family Pomacanthidae. Found on shallow reefs in the tropical Atlantic, Indian, and mostly western Pacific Ocean, the family contains seven genera and approximately 86 species. They should not be confused with the freshwater angelfish, tropical cichlids of the Amazon River basin.

More on the french angelfish

See also

For additional lists of marine life-related featured articles and good articles see:

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

WikiProjects

WikiProjects The Wikiproject associated with this portal is the Marine Life WikiProject

Other WikiProjects include:

  • Biology
  • Oceans
  • Tree of Life
    • Birds
    • Mammals
      • Cetaceans
    • Fishes
      • Sharks
      • Fisheries and fishing
    • Amphibians and Reptiles
    • Plants
    • Cephalopods
    • Gastropods
    • Monotremes and Marsupials

Tasks

Have a look at the Marine life WikiProject and sign up.


Here are some tasks you can do, as organized by The Marine life Wikiproject:

  • Collaboration of the week: Marine life article assessment
  • Other: See the projects page
  • Images: Upload any non-copyrighted marine life images to Wikimedia Commons
  • Featured Articles/Good Articles:
  • Other: Add {{Portal|Marine life}} to related articles
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