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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 ...
Almost all aquatic animals reproduce in water, either oviparously or viviparously, and many species routinely migrate between different water bodies during their life cycle. Some animals have fully aquatic life stages (typically as eggs and larvae), while as adults they become terrestrial or semi-aquatic after undergoing metamorphosis.
Organisms that live freely at the ocean surface, termed neuston, include keystone organisms like the golden seaweed Sargassum that makes up the Sargasso Sea, floating barnacles, marine snails, nudibranchs, and cnidarians. Many ecologically and economically important fish species live as or rely upon neuston.
The amount of dissolved oxygen in a water body is frequently the key substance in determining the extent and kinds of organic life in the water body. Fish need dissolved oxygen to survive, although their tolerance to low oxygen varies among species; in extreme cases of low oxygen, some fish even resort to air gulping. [25]
Because of the environment rich in microbes and nutrients, larvae of fish and other aquatic animals are often laid in the microlayer to incubate. The plankton in the microlayer are distinctly adapted to withstand high levels of radiation, and serve as buffers to prevent this potentially harmful radiation from reaching the deeper water.
The fish that do live there may have reduced or completely lost their gills, kidneys, hearts, and swimbladders, have slimy instead of scaly skin, and have a weak skeletal and muscular build. [ 20 ] : 587 This lack of ossification is an adaptation to save energy when food is scarce. [ 26 ]
Someone who makes $250,000 a year, for example, could be considered rich if they’re saving and investing in order to accumulate wealth and live in an area with a low cost of living.
A geologically young body of water, the Gulf of Aden has a unique biodiversity that contains many varieties of fish, coral, seabirds, and invertebrates. This rich ecological diversity has benefitted from the relative lack of pollution during the history of human habitation around the Gulf, but environmental groups fear that the lack of a ...