The Sea

What is the Sea?The sea is a very

large area of salt water.

The sea has different areas:

• Shoreline• Open sea• Ocean Depths

Fish

Seahorses

Whales and Dolphins

Coral

Jellyfish

Seals and Sea lions

SeaTurtles

Sharks

OctopusAnd Squid

Starfish

Sea Life

Fish

What is a fish?A fish must have:• Gills• Scales• Backbone or cartilage

They are cold blooded, usually lay eggs and live in fresh or salt water.

Starfish

• The starfish is also called a sea star• It eats corals, clams, mussels and sea urchins• It lives in tide pools ad rocky shores• It can lay up to 2 million eggs at a time• Starfish can regenerate injured or missing

body parts

Octopus and Squid• The octopus can grow

up to 3 metres long and weigh up to 25 kilograms

• They eat crabs, crayfish and molluscs

• They like to live in warm oceans all over the world

• Female lays up to 150,000 eggs

• The octopus can release a cloud of black ink to provide cover while it escapes from enemies

Sharks There are many different types of sharks. Some sharks are

dangerous, while others are gentle. Most sharks are meat eaters. Many sharks have rows of very sharp pointed teeth. When a shark loses a tooth, another one can move in from the back row. Sharks can lay eggs or have live babies. These babies are called pups. Sharks have cartilage, not bones. Cartilage is lighter than bone. Sharks can sink if they stop swimming.

Sea Turtles

• Turtles are reptiles and can live up to 100 years

• Some turtles are carnivores and others are herbivores

• Turtles live all over the world in warmer oceans

• The leatherback is the world’s largest turtle

• Female turtles can lay over 100 eggs at a time

Seals and Sea lions

• Seals and sea lions are carnivorous marine mammals

• They eat fish, shellfish, and other marine animals

• Sea lions and fur seals have small external ears

• Sea lions are larger and their fur is courser and shorter than a fur seal

• Fur seals flippers are longer

Jellyfish

• Jellyfish have been in the ocean for more than 650 million years

• They have no bones, brains, hearts or eyes

• Jellyfish are invertebrates, not fish

• Its tentacles contain poisonous, stinging cells

• There may be 2000 species of jellyfish, but only 70 harm or can kill people

Coral

• Coral live in colonies, in warm shallow waters of the tropics and subtropics

• Cells at the base of each polyp take lime from the sea water to build up a stony skeleton. These are the corals that form great reefs.

• Coral are carnivores and eat plankton

Whales and Dolphins• Whales and dolphins

are known as the gentle mammals of the sea

• They are meat eaters• Dolphins eat fish,

shrimp and squid• Whales eat plankton,

fish, squid, sea lions, birds and other whales

• Dolphins communicate by sound: clicking and whistling

Seahorses• Seahorses can grow up to

36 centimetres long and weigh up to 8 ounces

• They are carnivores and eat plankton, crustaceans and tiny fish

• Seahorses live in warm temperate oceans

• The male seahorse keeps the female’s eggs in his brood pouch and carries them until they hatch

GlossaryCrustacean a hard shell marine animal

Invertebrate without a back bone

Vertebrate having a back bone

Cartilage strong elastic tissue in body

Carnivore only eats meat

Herbivore only eats plants

Regenerate to replace lost tissue or a lost limb or organ with a new growth

Colony a group of animals or plants

Temperate a climate that has a range of temperatures within moderate limits

Polyp a single-cavity marine invertebrate Plankton a mass of tiny floating organisms