Marine Animals

Description

“Ocean environments cover more than 70% of the earth’s surface;
therefore it is no wonder that they also contain almost 50% of all
species on earth. The exact number of marine species in existence is
not known as there are many areas of the ocean that remain unexplored.
Scientists believe there are over 2.2 million species in our oceans.
Over one million of these are marine animals. Marine animals can range
significantly in size from microscopic krill through to the Blue Whale
which is the largest animal to ever live on earth. The ocean
environments they occupy can also vary from the intertidal zones along
our coastlines through to the deepest depths of the oceans.

Marine species are extremely sensitive to changes in their
environment. There are many human activities that have lead to the
endangerment of marine animals. These include overfishing, bottom
trawling, whaling, pollution, habitat degradation and climate change.

Climate change associated with human activities over the past one
hundred years has impacted greatly on marine ecosystems. The
temperature of sea water in many tropical areas has been rising over
time which has lead to the increased occurrence of coral bleaching
worldwide. This is a stress reaction in coral in which corals expel
microscopic algae which provides their food resource.”