Marine life
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Marine life, which is also known as sea life or ocean life, refers to all the marine organisms that live in salt water habitats, or ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, plants, a
Killer whales (orcas) are highly visible marine apex predators that hunt many large species. However, most marine activity takes place among microscopic organisms that cannot be seen individually with the naked eye, such as marine bacteria and phytoplankton.
Composition of seawater. Quantities in relation to 1 kg or 1 litre of sea water.
The Earth's water cycle
Microbial mats are the earliest form of life on Earth for which there is good fossil evidence. The image shows a cyanobacterial-algal mat.
Marine invertebrates
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Marine invertebrates are invertebrate animals that live in marine habitats, and make up most of the macroscopic life in the oceans. It is a polyphyletic blanket term that contains all marine animals e
Ernst Haeckel's 96th plate, showing some marine invertebrates. Marine invertebrates have a large variety of body plans, which are currently categorised into over 30 phyla.
Dickinsonia may be the earliest animal. They appear in the fossil record 571 million to 541 million years ago.
Kimberella, an early mollusc important for understanding the Cambrian explosion. Invertebrates are grouped into different phyla (body plans).
Bryozoa, from Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur, 1904