Page 204 - Super Earth Encyclopedia

BENEATH BIGGEST

THE WAVES BIOME

MARINE HABITATS ON EARTH

Most life on planet Earth inhabits the oceans.
Together, these oceans form a vast living space with
many different habitats, ranging from icy polar seas
to tropical coral reefs. Nearly all the food in the
oceans is tiny algae that drift near the sunlit surface as
plankton. All other oceanic life depends on it, and where
mineral-rich water fuels a dense growth of plankton,
vast shoals of shrimplike animals and small fish are also
supported. These are preyed on in turn by bigger fish as
well as whales, dolphins, seabirds, and other hunters.

AROUND THE WORLD

ARCTIC OCEAN The world’s oceans cover
more than two-thirds of the
planet, and have an average
depth of 12,470 ft (3,800 m).
ATLANTIC
OCEAN PACIFIC Most oceanic animals live
OCEAN in the sunlit zone near the
Equator
INDIAN surface, and in shallow coastal
PACIFIC OCEAN seas where there is plenty
OCEAN
SOUTHERN OCEAN of food. But there is life
everywhere in the oceans,
even in the dark depths.

FROZEN OCEANS
In the Arctic and Antarctic,
low air temperatures make
the oceans freeze over in
winter. But fish and other
animals flourish beneath
the ice, and are hunted by
LIVING EARTH penguins. In the Arctic, seals
predators such as seals and

are the main prey of polar
bears, which hunt on the
sea ice all winter long, and
rarely return to land.

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