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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 ...
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.
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 .
General characteristics of a large marine ecosystem (Gulf of Alaska). 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 ...
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. [2] [3] Marine life is studied scientifically in both marine biology and in biological oceanography.
Marine iguana: marine iguanas live only on the Galápagos Islands and are not fully adapted to marine life. Although they feed exclusively on marine plants and spend a good deal of their time in the water, they do nest on land and need to bask in the sun to reach their ideal body temperature; they are thus also subject to terrestrial predators.
Marine mammal adaptation to an aquatic lifestyle vary considerably between species. Both cetaceans and sirenians are fully aquatic and therefore are obligate ocean dwellers. Pinnipeds are semiaquatic; they spend the majority of their time in the water, but need to return to land for important activities such as mating, breeding and molting.
Currently, of the approximately 12,000 extant reptile species and sub-species, only about 100 of are classed as marine reptiles. [30] Except for some sea snakes, most extant marine reptiles are oviparous and need to return to land to lay their eggs. Apart from sea turtles, the species usually spend most of their lives on or near land rather ...