BIODIVERSITY
The diversity of major groups of organisms is much greater in the ocean than on land. Of the 1.5 million known species on Earth, some 250,000 live in the ocean.
— There are more than 360 known species of shark in the sea. Sharks are much older than dinosaurs – their ancestry dates back more than 400 million years.
— Great White Sharks migrate long distances. Some make journeys from South Africa to Australia – a round-trip of 20,000 miles. It’s the longest recorded migration of any fish.
— The largest mammal on Earth is the blue whale, which can be 100 feet long and weigh 200,000 to 300,000 pounds – equivalent to 15 adult male elephants.
— Coastal mangrove forest ecosystems shelter over 200 species of fish, 180 species of birds and dozens of reptile, amphibian and mammal species.
— Coral reefs provide habitat for over 4,000 species of fish and about 25 percent of marine life. Deep-water corals on Davidson Seamount, off the Big Sur coast, may grow to ten feet tall and live for several hundred years. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest structure ever built by living organisms on Earth.
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