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Ocean color is the branch of ocean optics that specifically studies the color of the water and information that can be gained from looking at variations in color. The color of the ocean, while mainly blue, actually varies from blue to green or even yellow, brown or red in some cases. [1]
This is a list of freshwater ecoregions in Latin America and the Caribbean, as identified by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The WWF divides the Earth's land surface into ecoregions, defined as "large area[s] of land or water containing a distinct assemblage of natural communities and species". Ecoregions are grouped into complexes and ...
The species has been recorded making the longest dive ever documented for any mammal, rendering its detection and the estimation of its abundance very difficult. [124] Its distribution is known mainly through strandings. [125] It is also one of the cetacean species most frequently found stranded in the North-Eastern Caribbean. [127]
Marine waters cover more than 70% of the surface of the Earth and account for more than 97% of Earth's water supply [1] [2] and 90% of habitable space on Earth. [3] Seawater has an average salinity of 35 parts per thousand of water. Actual salinity varies among different marine ecosystems. [4]
Many species live most of their lives as single cells or are filamentous, while others form colonies made up from long chains of cells, or are highly differentiated macroscopic seaweeds. Red algae , a (disputed) phylum contains about 7,000 recognised species, [ 50 ] mostly multicellular and including many notable seaweeds.
After the Mediterranean, the Caribbean Sea is the second most polluted sea. Pollution (in the form of up to 300,000 tonnes of solid garbage dumped into the Caribbean Sea each year) is progressively endangering marine ecosystems, wiping out species, and harming the livelihoods of the local people, which is primarily reliant on tourism and fishing.
Consequently, the term "gorgonian coral" is commonly handed to multiple species in the order Alcyonacea that produce a mineralized skeletal axis (or axial-like layer) composed of calcite and the proteinaceous material gorgonin only and corresponds to only one of several families within the formally accepted taxon Gorgoniidae (Scleractinia).
Thalassia testudinum, commonly known as turtlegrass, [4] is a species of marine seagrass. It forms meadows in shallow sandy or muddy locations in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. [5] Turtle grass and other seagrasses form meadows which are important habitats and feeding grounds.