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Marine mammals comprise over 130 living and recently extinct species in three taxonomic orders. The Society for Marine Mammalogy, an international scientific society, maintains a list of valid species and subspecies, most recently updated in October 2015. [1] This list follows the Society's taxonomy regarding and subspecies.
From shallow waters to the deep sea, the open ocean to rivers and lakes, numerous terrestrial and marine species depend on the surface ecosystem and the organisms found there. [ 28 ] The ocean's surface acts like a skin between the atmosphere above and the water below, and harbours an ecosystem unique to this environment.
Total species range is highly variable for marine mammal species. On average most marine mammals have ranges which are equivalent or smaller than one-fifth of the Indian Ocean . [ 33 ] The variation observed in range size is a result of the different ecological requirements of each species and their ability to cope with a broad range of ...
Point Reyes National Seashore is home to almost 40 different species of land mammals, and the area also provides haul-out and breeding sites for multiple species of seals and sea lions. [5] Oregon's seashore also provides a habitat for many animals, such as the high-speed peregrine falcon , the dungeness crab , or social California sea lion .
Animals are multicellular eukaryotes, [note 2] and are distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls. [182] Marine invertebrates are animals that inhabit a marine environment apart from the vertebrate members of the chordate phylum; invertebrates lack a vertebral column. Some have evolved a shell or a hard exoskeleton.
A marine coastal ecosystem is a marine ecosystem which occurs where the land meets the ocean. Worldwide there is about 620,000 kilometres (390,000 mi) of coastline. Coastal habitats extend to the margins of the continental shelves, occupying about 7 percent of the ocean surface area.
Marine biology studies species that live in marine habitats. Most of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, which is the home to marine life. Oceans average nearly four kilometers in-depth and are fringed with coastlines that run for about 360,000 kilometres. [4] [5] Marine biology can be contrasted with biological oceanography.
Following is a list of marine reptiles, reptiles which are adapted to life in marine or brackish environments. This list is incomplete ; you can help by adding missing items . ( August 2008 )