Marine+facts

Marine organisms produce 90% of the oxygen we (humans on earth) breathe, and help regulate the earth's climate.
 * Fun Facts:**

The Marine Biome is the biggest biome in the world, it covers 70% of the world.

1 million different plants and animals call the marine biome home.


 * Did you know?......**

That sponges and coral are living breathing animals with organs an everything.

Whales can live as long as humans. Most whales live from 15 to 60 years. Some of the larger whales have been know to live up to 100 years!

The //whale shark// is the biggest shark - 15 metres long.

World wide, coral reefs cover 600,000 square miles and are home to over 500,000 species.

Whales have belly buttons!

Whales also can stay under water for 2 hours at a time.

Sharks have been around longer than dinosaurs.

The moses solefish looks like a stingray. When a predator bites it the moses solefish lets out a liquid that paralyzes the predator and eventually the predator will die.

When a sharks attack a herd of dolphins they circle around the predator and confuse them.

Algae give coral their color.

Killer Whales don't actually kill organisms.

The Steller Sea Lion is the largest member of its spicies.

Mammals swim with an up and down motion with their tail, when fish swim with a side to side motion of the tail.

__**Marine Organisms**__

There are many animals in the marine biome.
 * __Kingdom Animal:__**

There are 120 species of mammals. The mammals are divided into five groups:

Family Dugongidae - dugong (1 species) Suborder Ondontoceti - toothed whales (around 73 species) __Order Carnivora:__
 * //__1. Order Sirenia, Sirenians__//**: Family Trichechidae - manatees (3 species)
 * //__2. Order Cetacea, Cetaceans:__//** Suborder Mysticeti - baleen whales (14 or 15 species)

Family Otariidae - earned seals (around 16 species) Family Odobenidae - walrus (1 species) marine otter (Lontra Felina)
 * //__3. Superfamily Pinnipedia:__//** Family Phocidae - true seals (around 20 species)
 * //__4. Family Mustelidae:__//** sea otter (Enhydra Lutris)
 * //__5. Family Ursidae:__//** polar bear (Ursus Maritimas)

The blue whale is the largest known animal ever to have lived on sea or land. The whales can reach more than 110 feet and weigh nearly 200 tons or more than the weight of 50 adult elephants. The blue whale's blood vessels are so broad that a full-grown trout could swim through them, and the vessels serve a heart the size of a small car.

Hydrothermal vents, (fractures in the sea floor) that spew sulphur compounds, support the only complex ecosystem known to run on chemicals, rather than energy from the sun. Gigantic tubeworms and mussels thrive in densities of up to 65 organisms per square foot around vents.

The oarfish, is the longest bony fish in the world. With its snakelike body, sporting a magnificent red fin along its 50-foot length, horse like face and blue gills, it accounts for many sea-serpent sightings.

Green turtles can migrate more than 1,400 miles to lay their eggs.

A group of herring is called a siege. A group of jellyfish is called a smack.

Oils from the orange roughy, a deep-sea fish from New Zealand, are used in making shampoo.

Bluefin tuna, are among the largest and fastest marine fish. An adult may weigh 1,500 pounds and swim up to 55 miles per hour. Prized as sushi in Japan, Bluefins are also among the most valuable fish: individual Bluefins can bring as much as $20,000 at U.S. docks.

Penguins "fly" underwater at up to 25 miles per hour.

Since the architecture and chemistry of coral are very close to human bone, coral has been used to replace bone grafts in helping human bones to heal quickly and cleanly.

Sharks attack 50-75 people each year world wide, with 8-12 deaths

Horseshoe crabs have existed in essentially the same form for the past 135 million years. Their blood provides a valuable test for the toxins that cause septic shock, which previously led to half of all hospital-acquired infections and one-fifth of all hospital deaths.

Alginates, derived from the cell walls of brown algae, are used in beer, frozen desserts, pickles, adhesives, boiler compounds, ceramics, explosives, paper and toys.

The remains of diatoms, algae with hard shells, are used in making pet litter, cosmetics, pool filters and tooth polish.

Life began in the seas 3.1 billion to 3.4 billion years ago. Land dwellers appeared 400 million years ago, a relatively recent point in the geologic time line.