Ultimate Oceanpedia: The Most Complete Ocean Reference Ever
CONTENTS Introduction 6 Discovering the Ocean 8 CHAPTER 1 OCEANS 10 Earth World of Water 12 The Pacific Ocean 14 Pacific Ocean Wild Places 16 Pacific Ocean Wild Wonders 18 The Atlantic Ocean 20 Atlantic Ocean Wild Places 22 Atlantic Ocean Wild Wonders 24 The Indian Ocean 26 Indian Ocean Wild Places 28 Indian Ocean Wild Wonders 30 The Arctic Ocean 32 Arctic Ocean Wild Places 34 Arctic Ocean Wild Wonders 36 Salty Water 38 Sea Levels The Ocean's Layers 40 The Sunlit Zone 42 The Twilight Zone 44 The Midnight Zone 46 Into the Abyss 48 Deep Sea Life 50 Coral 70 Life on a Coral Reef 72 Sponges 74 A Splendor of Sponges 76 Mollusks 78 Giant Clam 80 Mimic Octopus 82 Humboldt Squid 84 Crustaceans 86 Peacock Mantis Shrimp 88 Giant Hermit Crab 90 Yeti Crab 92 Echinoderms 94 Sunflower Star 96 Leopard Sea Cucumber 98 Sea Squirts 100 Fish 102 Bony Fish 104 Sailfish 106 Spot Fin Porcupinefish 108 Greenthroat Parrotfish 110 Sharks Rays and Skates 112 Great White Shark 114 Whale Shark 116 Giant Devil Ray 118 Sea Turtles 120 Loggerhead Turtle 122 Leatherback Turtle 124 Whales Dolphins and Porpoises 126 Humpback Whale 128 Orca 130 Bottlenose Dolphin 132 Seals Sea Lions and Walruses 134 Pacific Walrus 136 Weddell Seal 138 CHAPTER 2 OCEAN LIFE 52 A Sea of Wonder 54 Food Webs 56 Phytoplankton 58 Seaweed 60 Zooplankton 62 Jellyfish 64 Lion's Mane Jellyfish Box Jellyfish 68 66
Polar Bear 140 Sea Otter 142 Seabirds 144 Laysan Albatross 146 Penguins 148 Emperor Penguin 150 CHAPTER 3 OCEAN IN MOTION 152 Waves 154 Currents and Gyres 156 Garbage Patches 158 The Sargasso Sea 160 The Global Conveyor Belt 162 Look Out Above Here Comes Dinner 164 Tides 166 Supersize Tides 168 CHAPTER 6 ALONG THE COAST 210 The Seashore 212 It's a Shore Thing 214 Sand sational 216 Rugged Rocky Beaches 218 Living the Tide Pool Life 220 Seashore Home 222 Seagrass Meadows 224 Kelp Forests 226 Lovely Lagoons 228 Mighty Mangroves 230 Excellent Estuaries 232 Caves Cliffs and Stacks 234 CHAPTER 43 WILD WEATHER 170 The Water Cycle 172 Taking the Heat 174 El Niño 176 Monsoon Season 178 Storms at Sea 180 Climate Change 182 CHAPTER 7 WHEN PEOPLE AND OCEANS MEET 236 Living by the Sea 238 Gone Fishing 240 Exploring the Ocean 242 Into the Deep 244 Shore to Shore by Ship 246 Fueling Our Planet 248 Rehabbing Habitats 250 Saving Sea Life 252 Saving the Seas Protecting Marine Areas 254 Enric Sala on Pristine Seas 256 A Talk With Oceanographer Grace Saba 258 How You Can Help 260 CHAPTER 5 UNDERWATER EXPLORATION 184 Beneath the Surface 186 Continents on the Move 188 Towering Tsunamis 190 Underwater Mountains 192 Islands 194 The Birth of an Island 196 Coral Islands 198 Amazing Island Animals 200 Undersea Mountains and Volcanoes 202 Trenches Earth's Deepest Canyons 204 The Abyssal Plains 206 Slippery Slope Where Sea Meets Land 208 Glossary 262 Find Out More 265 Index 267 Photo Credits 271 Credits 272
INTRODUCTION Water water everywhere That's Earth a rocky planet with an ocean that covers nearly three fourths of its surface We humans are land dwellers with bodies adapted to breathe air and walk We live work and play on land even if we sometimes jump into water to swim sail or surf But even though we feel at home on land many creatures feel more at home in water It's estimated that as much as 80 percent of all organisms live in the ocean In fact about 99 percent of all habitable space on Earth is in the ocean Habitable space is where life can survive The ocean offers habitable space from its surface to its depths and in all the water in between The remaining one percent of habitable space is made up of the land surface where you and I live along with everything from ants to zebras The ocean also produces about half the oxygen in the atmosphere a gas that most living things including plants need to survive The ocean and the atmosphere are constantly interacting Winds blow across the water building waves and pushing currents cooling or warming the water and picking up water vapor The ocean likewise cools or warms the air and that water vapor turns into clouds that later pour out rain or snow Raindrops that fall on the head of a person in a desert may have started out as water vapor far from the shore Amazing animals and other organisms make themselves at home in on and around the sea Many marine animals are familiar to us think of whales sharks polar bears penguins and octopuses But the ocean is also full of organisms that look like creatures dreamed up by a science fiction writer fish that light up sea cucumbers that eject their guts when alarmed and zombie worms that eat the bones of dead whales As a kid I spent many happy hours digging in the sand and watching birds on East Coast beaches of the United States As an adult I've lived near the crashing waves and rocky shores of the northwestern United States I have truly enjoyed researching oceans to write Oceanpedia and I hope you enjoy diving into its pages too cushion sea star CHRISTINA WILSDON SCIENCE WRITER AND AUTHOR OF ULTIMATE OCEANPEDIA
sea cucumber Close your eyes and imagine that you are deep in the sea It is dark and cold and you hear the sound of whales coming from miles away Some of the strange and wonderful creatures you encounter will think you want to eat them others will ponder how good you might taste You are much larger than most of the creatures you meet so you feel pretty safe As you get used to being under the ocean the deep sea begins to fill with small flashes of light Looking like fireflies dancing in the air on a summer's evening that light could be fish communicating with each other or using light to attract something to eat Shrimp might flash light as a warning sign to stay away or an octopus could release a trail of light as it flees a predator It is an eerie fascinating world The ocean is so vast that much of it still remains unexplored Every year new creatures are discovered and new underwater mountains are studied The ocean influences a vast array of things such as the composition of the air we breathe and the temperature outside your house right now To say that we rely on the ocean is perhaps a surprise since we don't live in it but it's true Without our oceans we would not be able to survive As an oceanographer I find that there is little better than being on the sea that's where I conduct research and try to unravel some of the mysteries of the ocean My job brings me across the world and shows me again and again how beautiful Earth is especially its ocean The ocean can be calm and peaceful raging and angry crystal clear or cloudy with sediment cold or warm hospitable or unforgiving Whatever the ocean's mood it is always alive and calling to us to explore and understand it Enjoy your exploration with this book and I hope one day to see you out on the oceans with me spot fin porcupinefish RICK KEIL OCEANOGRAPHER UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
