10 Incredible Marine Life Facts

Though the land throughout the world has been fairly explored, the waters have not been explored completely. New marine species are found regularly by marine explorers every day. New and astonishing facts keep emerging from the oceans and given below are 10 incredible facts:

• The oceans cover nearly 70% of the earth’s surface. The oceans are very vital to the existence of this planet and a lot must be learnt about it still. More than 90% of the species that exist in the earth is marine species.

• Everybody knows that the Great Migration on land takes place in the Serengeti every year and thousands come to watch the spectacle, but not many know that the Greatest Migration happens every day in the Sargasso Sea. The Sargasso Sea is covered by a thick layer of seaweed and every day thousands of species of marine life numbering in the millions come to devour the seaweed and return to the deep before the sun rises.

• The colossal squid digests food using its brain. The brain is shaped like a doughnut and the nutrients are absorbed when the food travels through the brain to the stomach. The colossal squid however just needs 30 grams of food to live in the harsh cold climes.

• When you taste something, it is actually your taste buds at work and there are more than 2000 to 7000 plus in your tongue. But the catfish has 100,000 plus taste buds and the buds are on the outer part of the bodies. In fact, the catfish catches its prey by tasting them in the deep waters. Since visibility is less in the deep water, a catfish uses its taste buds to triangulate on a prey and consume it.

• Did you know that dolphins can ‘see’ through other animals in the water? The sonar that dolphins use to communicate has a wavelength that needs hard things like bone or rocks to reflect and it penetrates through the bodies enabling it to see inside. In short, we can say that dolphins have X-ray vision and can see whether a shark is hungry or has eaten already.

• Most of us would have seen seahorses when we visited an aquarium. These super creatures are really cute and adorable. Children especially love them, but do you know that the smallest adult seahorse is as small as a postage stamp.

• One of the top grossing films on marine life was Jaws, which told the story of a shark that preyed on humans. Sharks have always inspired awe and fear. But did you know that sharks have been in existence even before the dinosaurs, in fact, 170 million years before them.

• Manatees are friendly sea creatures that are commonly known as gentle giants or sometimes as sea cows. But did you know that these sea creatures are related to elephants and not to cows?

• Did you know that during mating season male walruses mating call is a sound that is very similar to a bell?

• An interesting fact about octopuses is that the suckers on their arms are more than two thousand in number.