Marine Life

There are millions of plants and animals living in the sea. Most of the plants and animals living in the oceans are extremely small and float near the surface of the water. They are food for huge numbers of small animals that also live near the surface. Together, they are all known as plankton.

Many fish feed on this plankton, including one of the largest, the whale shark. Despite their great size, certain whales live entirely on plankton. The blue whale is the largest animal ever to live. It grows to a length Of over 100 feet. The humpback whale is a smaller kind and has long flippers. It can jump right out the water. The Californian grey whale makes long migrations every year – it spends the summer feeding in the Artic but swims south to the warmer waters off the coast of Mexico in the winter. The females give birth in the shallow, warm water there.

Many of the fish in the sea may be eaten by other meat-eaters. Sharks, for example, are some of the fastest hunters, although not all of them eat other fish.

Deep down in the oceans live many strange fish. It is so dark down there that many of these fish have “light” on them, which are used for attracting smaller fish for the larger ones to eat.
Jellyfish are peculiar-looking creatures ranging in size from a fraction of an inch to 6 feet across. They don’t really swim but drift in the currents of the open oceans. Although they contain a powerful sting, they are often eaten by turtles. Turtles are reptiles that spend most of their eggs on sandy beaches.