Marine invertebrates exhibit a wide range of modifications to survive in poorly oxygenated waters, including breathing tubes as in mollusc siphons. Fish have gills instead of lungs, although some species of fish, such as the lungfish, have both. Marine mammals (e.g. dolphins, whales, otters, and seals) need to surface periodically to breathe air. (Full article...)
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Image 1
Scleractinian corals, illustration by Ernst Haeckel, 1904
Scleractinia, also called stony corals or hard corals, are marine animals in the phylumCnidaria that build themselves a hard skeleton. The individual animals are known as polyps and have a cylindrical body crowned by an oral disc in which a mouth is fringed with tentacles. Although some species are solitary, most are colonial. The founding polyp settles and starts to secrete calcium carbonate to protect its soft body. Solitary corals can be as much as 25 cm (10 in) across but in colonial species the polyps are usually only a few millimetres in diameter. These polyps reproduce asexually by budding, but remain attached to each other, forming a multi-polyp colony of clones with a common skeleton, which may be up to several metres in diameter or height according to species.
The shape and appearance of each coral colony depends not only on the species, but also on its location, depth, the amount of water movement and other factors. Many shallow-water corals contain symbiont unicellular organisms known as zooxanthellae within their tissues. These give their colour to the coral which thus may vary in hue depending on what species of symbiont it contains. Stony corals are closely related to sea anemones, and like them are armed with stinging cells known as cnidocytes. Corals reproduce both sexually and asexually. Most species release gametes into the sea where fertilisation takes place, and the planula larvae drift as part of the plankton, but a few species brood their eggs. Asexual reproduction is mostly by fragmentation, when part of a colony becomes detached and reattaches elsewhere. (Full article...)
Archelon is an extinct marine turtle from the Late Cretaceous, and is the largest turtle ever to have been documented, with the biggest specimen measuring 4.6 m (15 ft) from head to tail and 2.2–3.2 t (2.4–3.5 short tons) in body mass. It is known only from the Pierre Shale and has one species, A. ischyros. In the past, the genus also contained A. marshii and A. copei, though these have been reassigned to Protostega and Kansastega, respectively. The genus was named in 1895 by American paleontologist George Reber Wieland based on a skeleton from South Dakota, who placed it into the extinct familyProtostegidae. The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) was once thought to be its closest living relative, but now, Protostegidae is thought to be a completely separate lineage from any living sea turtle.
Archelon had a leathery carapace instead of the hard shell seen in most sea turtles. The carapace may have featured a row of small ridges, each peaking at 2.5 or 5 cm (1 or 2 in) in height. It had an especially hooked beak and its jaws were adept at crushing, so it probably ate hard-shelled crustaceans, mollusks, and possibly even sponges, while slowly moving over the seafloor. It also potentially consumed other animals, whilst swimming closer to the surface, like jellyfish, squid, or nautiloids. However, its beak may have been better-adapted for shearing flesh, with fish being another possible prey choice. With its large and strong foreflippers, Archelon was likely able to produce powerful strokes necessary for open-ocean travel and, if need be, escape from fellow marine predators. It inhabited the northern Western Interior Seaway, a mild to cool temperate area, dominated by plesiosaurs, hesperornithiform seabirds, and mosasaurs. It may have gone extinct due to the shrinking of the seaway, increased infant mortality rates (in the sea), higher instances of egg and hatchling predation (on land), and a rapidly cooling climate. (Full article...)
The sea mink (Neogale macrodon) is a recently extinct species of mink that lived on the eastern coast of North America around the Gulf of Maine on the New England seaboard. It was most closely related to the American mink (Neogale vison), with continuing debate about whether or not the sea mink should be considered a subspecies of the American mink (as Neogale vison macrodon) or a species of its own. The main justification for a separate species designation is the size difference between the two minks, but other distinctions have been made, such as its redder fur. The only known remains are bone fragments unearthed in Native American shell middens. Its actual size is speculative, based largely on tooth remains.
The sea mink was first described in 1903, after its extinction; information regarding its external appearance and habits stem from speculation and from accounts made by fur traders and Native Americans. It may have exhibited behavior similar to the American mink, in that it probably maintained home ranges, was polygynandrous, and had a similar diet, though more seaward-oriented. It was probably found on the New England coast and the Maritime Provinces, though its range may have stretched further south during the last glacial period. Conversely, its range may have been restricted solely to the New England coast, specifically the Gulf of Maine, or just to the nearby islands. The largest of the minks, the sea mink was more desirable to fur traders and became extinct in the late 19th or early 20th century. (Full article...)
Image 4
Millepora alcicornis, or sea ginger, is a species of colonialfire coral with a calcareous skeleton. It is found on shallow water coral reefs in the tropical west Atlantic Ocean. It shows a variety of different morphologies depending on its location. It feeds on plankton and derives part of its energy requirements from microalgae found within its tissues. It is an important member of the reef building community and subject to the same threats as other corals. It can cause painful stings to unwary divers. (Full article...)
Image 5
Cetacea is an infraorder that comprises the 94 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises. It is divided into toothed whales (Odontoceti) and baleen whales (Mysticeti), which diverged from each other in the Eocene some 50 million years ago (mya). Cetaceans are descended from land-dwelling hoofed mammals, and the now extinct archaeocetes represent the several transitional phases from terrestrial to completely aquatic. Historically, cetaceans were thought to have descended from the wolf-like mesonychians, but cladistic analyses confirm their placement with even-toed ungulates in the order Cetartiodactyla.
Whale populations were drastically reduced in the 20th century from intensive whaling, and the activity was globally banned in 1982. Smaller cetaceans are at risk of accidentally getting caught by fishing vessels using, namely, seine fishing, drift netting, or gill netting operations. (Full article...)
Image 6
Stephanolepis cirrhifer
Stephanolepis cirrhifer, commonly known as the thread-sail filefish, is a species of marine fish in the family Monacanthidae. It is found in the western Pacific, in an area that ranges from northern Japan to the East China Sea, to Korea. Other common names for the fish include kawahagi (カワハギ,皮剥) (Japanese) and “쥐치” "Jwi-chi" (Korean). The fish grows to a maximum length of about 12 inches (30 centimetres), and consumes both plant material and small marine organisms like skeleton shrimp. S. cirrhifer is host of the parasitePeniculus minuticaudae. Some minor genetic differentiation between S. cirrhifer born in the wild and those bred in a hatchery for consumer use has been shown. The fish is edible and sold commercially for culinary purposes in many Asian countries. (Full article...)
The ocean sunfish or common mola (Mola mola) is one of the largest bony fish in the world. It was misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which was actually a different species, Mola alexandrini. Adults typically weigh between 247 and 1,000 kg (545 and 2,205 lb). The species belongs to the Mola genus, one of three in the Molidae family. It is native to tropical and temperate waters around the world. It resembles a fish head without a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended.
Adult sunfish are vulnerable to few natural predators, but sea lions, killer whales, and sharks will consume them. Sunfish are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, including Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. In the European Union, regulations ban the sale of fish and fishery products derived from the family Molidae. Sunfish are frequently caught in gillnets. (Full article...)
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...)
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquaticplacentalmarine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and porpoises. Dolphins and porpoises may be considered whales from a formal, cladistic perspective. Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the order Cetartiodactyla, which consists of even-toed ungulates. Their closest non-cetacean living relatives are the hippopotamuses, from which they and other cetaceans diverged about 54 million years ago. The two parvorders of whales, baleen whales (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti), are thought to have had their last common ancestor around 34 million years ago. Mysticetes include four extant (living) families: Balaenopteridae (the rorquals), Balaenidae (right whales), Cetotheriidae (the pygmy right whale), and Eschrichtiidae (the grey whale). Odontocetes include the Monodontidae (belugas and narwhals), Physeteridae (the sperm whale), Kogiidae (the dwarf and pygmy sperm whale), and Ziphiidae (the beaked whales), as well as the six families of dolphins and porpoises which are not considered whales in the informal sense.
Whales are fully aquatic, open-ocean animals: they can feed, mate, give birth, suckle and raise their young at sea. Whales range in size from the 2.6 metres (8.5 ft) and 135 kilograms (298 lb) dwarf sperm whale to the 29.9 metres (98 ft) and 190 tonnes (210 short tons) blue whale, which is the largest known animal that has ever lived. The sperm whale is the largest toothed predator on Earth. Several whale species exhibit sexual dimorphism, in that the females are larger than males. (Full article...)
Sea snakes, or coral reef snakes, are elapid snakes that inhabit marine environments for most or all of their lives. They belong to two subfamilies, Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae. Hydrophiinae also includes Australasian terrestrial snakes, whereas Laticaudinae only includes the sea kraits (Laticauda), of which three species are found exclusively in freshwater. If these three freshwater species are excluded, there are 69 species of sea snakes divided among seven genera.
Most sea snakes are venomous, except the genus Emydocephalus, which feeds almost exclusively on fish eggs. Sea snakes are extensively adapted to a fully aquatic life and are unable to move on land, except for the sea kraits, which have limited land movement. They are found in warm coastal waters from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific and are closely related to venomous terrestrial snakes in Australia. (Full article...)
A chemoautotrophic whale-fall community in the Santa Cruz basin off southern California at a depth of 1,674 m (5,492 ft), including bacteria mats, vesicomyid clams in the sediments, galatheid crabs, polynoids, and a variety of other invertebrates.
A whale fall occurs when the carcass of a whale has fallen onto the ocean floor at a depth greater than 1,000 m (3,300 ft), in the bathyal or abyssal zones. On the sea floor, these carcasses can create complex localized ecosystems that supply sustenance to deep-sea organisms for decades. This is unlike in shallower waters, where a whale carcass will be consumed by scavengers over a relatively short period of time. Whale falls were first observed in the late 1970s with the development of deep-sea robotic exploration. Since then, several natural and experimental whale falls have been monitored through the use of observations from submersibles and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) in order to understand patterns of ecological succession on the deep seafloor.
Deep sea whale falls are thought to be hotspots of adaptive radiation for specialized fauna. Organisms that have been observed at deep-sea whale fall sites include octopus, giant isopods, squat lobsters, polychaetes, prawns, shrimp, lobsters, hagfish, Osedax, crabs, sea cucumbers, and sleeper sharks. New species have been discovered, including some potentially specializing in whale falls. It has been postulated that whale falls generate biodiversity by providing evolutionary stepping stones for multiple lineages to move and adapt to new environmentally-challenging habitats. Researchers estimate that 690,000 carcasses/skeletons of the nine largest whale species are in one of the four stages of succession at any one time. This estimate implies an average spacing of 12 km (7.5 mi) and as little as 5 km (3.1 mi) along migration routes. They hypothesize that this distance is short enough to allow larvae to disperse/migrate from one to another. (Full article...)
Image 4Microplastics found in sediments on the seafloor (from Marine habitat)
Image 5Cnidarians 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)
Image 7Ernst 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)
Image 9Conceptual diagram of faunal community structure and food-web patterns along fluid-flux gradients within Guaymas seep and vent ecosystems. (from Marine food web)
Image 10Halfbeak as larvae are one of the organisms adapted to the unique properties of the microlayer (from Marine habitat)
Image 12Conference events, such as the events hosted by the United Nations, help to bring together many stakeholders for awareness and action. (from Marine conservation)
Image 14A 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)
Image 17Marine Species Changes in Latitude and Depth in three different ocean regions(1973-2019) (from Marine food web)
Image 18The 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)
Image 19Waves and currents shape the intertidal shoreline, eroding the softer rocks and transporting and grading loose particles into shingles, sand or mud (from Marine habitat)
Image 20Phylogenetic and symbiogenetic tree of living organisms, showing a view of the origins of eukaryotes and prokaryotes (from Marine fungi)
Image 21
Model 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)
Image 22Whales were close to extinction until legislation was put in place. (from Marine conservation)
Image 24Jellyfish are easy to capture and digest and may be more important as food sources than was previously thought. (from Marine food web)
Image 25Cryptic 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)
Image 26An 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)
Image 27Antarctic 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)
Image 34This 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)
Different 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
Image 41Sea 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)
Image 42Phylogenetic 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)
Image 43Lampreys are often parasitic and have a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth (from Marine vertebrate)
Image 44Reconstruction 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)
Image 46A 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)
Mycoloop 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)
Image 54Food 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)
Image 59Sponges have no nervous, digestive or circulatory system (from Marine invertebrates)
Image 60Elevation-area graph showing the proportion of land area at given heights and the proportion of ocean area at given depths (from Marine habitat)
Image 62Chytrid 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)
Image 63Anthropogenic stressors to marine species threatened with extinction (from Marine food web)
Image 67On 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)
Image 68
The global continental shelf, highlighted in light green, defines the extent of marine coastal habitats, and occupies 5% of the total world area
Image 70Only 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.
Image 77Estuaries 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)
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)
Image 81A protected sea turtle area that warns of fines and imprisonment on a beach in Miami, Florida. (from Marine conservation)
Image 82Phylogenetic and symbiogenetic tree of living organisms, showing a view of the origins of eukaryotes and prokaryotes (from Marine prokaryotes)
Image 83Some 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)
Image 84In 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)
Estimates 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)
Image 87Dickinsonia may be the earliest animal. They appear in the fossil record 571 million to 541 million years ago. (from Marine invertebrates)
Image 95Archaea 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)
Image 96
Diagram 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)
Image 98The 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)
Image 99Common-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)
Image 105Ocean 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)
Image 106Scanning 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)
Image 108Coral reefs provide marine habitats for tube sponges, which in turn become marine habitats for fishes (from Marine habitat)
Image 109Diagram above contains clickable links
Image 110The 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)
Image 113Cycling 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)
Image 119The deep sea amphipodEurythenes plasticus, named after microplastics found in its body, demonstrating plastic pollution affects marine habitats even 6000m below sea level. (from Marine habitat)
Image 120Biomass pyramids. Compared to terrestrial biomass pyramids, aquatic pyramids are generally inverted at the base. (from 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)
Image 124Oceanic 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)
Image 125Some lobe-finned fishes, like the extinct Tiktaalik, developed limb-like fins that could take them onto land (from Marine vertebrate)
Image 14Ecosystem services delivered by epibenthicbivalve 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)
... that Concurrent Computer Corporation was consumed in a "minnow-swallows-the-whale" merger during the junk bonds era, but unusually, kept its name, CEO, and headquarters?
... A typical shark has several hundred teeth at any one time.
... Shark skin is so rough that in the past it was used to make a type of sandpaper, called shagreen.
... Without their fins, sharks wouldn’t be able to stay the right way up. They’d roll over in the water.
... In 2004, while snorkelling in Australia, Luke Tresoglavic was bitten by a small wobbegong that refused to let go. He had to swim to the shore and drive to get help with the shark still attached to his leg.
... all cetaceans have a blubber layer — a layer of fat under the skin. In most dolphins, this layer is about one quarter to one third of the total body weight, but in southern right whales nearly half of its weight (up to 50 tons) will be blubber.
... Even though the basking shark is considered to be slow and very large, it can actually breach the water, i.e. jump fully out, as some whales do.
The Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) is a North American member of the cormorant family of seabirds. Its name is derived from the Greek words phalakros (bald) and kora (raven), and the Latinauritus (eared). Folk names of this bird include Crow-duck, Farallon Cormorant, Florida Cormorant, lawyer, shag, and Taunton turkey.
![Image 8Pennate 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)](https://thcscience.wiki/term/cannabaceae/cannabis/cannabis-indica/?rdp_we_resource=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3APennate_diatom_infected_with_two_chytrid-like_fungal_pathogens.png)
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