By: Emily O’Connor, Age 9
Did you know that the ocean covers 71% of the earth? This means that there is more water than land on the earth. There are five oceans in the world. They are the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean. The largest ocean is the Pacific, and the ocean bordering Maine is the Atlantic Ocean.
There are many landforms in the ocean, including trenches, the abyss, and volcanic island arcs. The trenches are long, steep holes that form in the ocean. At 36,200 feet deep, the Mariana trench is the deepest part of the ocean. Trenches typically are 2-2 1/2 miles deep.
The abyssal plain is one of the deepest parts of the ocean floor, next to an oceanic trench. It is one of the flattest and smoothest regions on earth. The abyssal plain covers more than 50% of earth’s surfaces.
The volcanic island arc is when volcano’s come to the ocean surface, they form islands. People can still live on these, and do today. Tamu Massif is the largest volcano on earth, and can be found under the Pacific Ocean. It is believed that 80% of volcano’s that erupt are in the ocean.
There are many great animals in the ocean. One of which is the sea turtle. Sea turtles, which are reptiles, are also called marine turtles. They inhabit all of the world’s oceans except for the Arctic ocean because it is too cold. At the beginning of the sea turtle’s life they live on land, but then most of their lives are spent in the sea. The adult female returns to the beach where she was born to lay her eggs. Sometimes sea turtles do not make it to the ocean because they get eaten. Sea turtles eat horseshoe crabs, jellyfish, brown algae, conch’s and seaweed. Something that is sad about turtles is that most of the turtle species are on the endangered species list. One big way to help them is not polluting the ocean waters. Turtles get wrapped up in old fishing lines, and trash and can die.
My next animal I will be talking about is the Bottlenose Dolphin. They have very good eyesight in and out of the water. They cannot live outside the water, but when they dive up to the top they can see well. They are very social animals. They live in ‘pods’ of up to a dozen dolphins. Other pods can group together to form ‘super pods’ of up to 1000 dolphins. Blubber is how they adapt.
Starfish is another animal in the ocean. They are also called ‘Sea Stars’. They can be found from the seashore to the Abyss. They have five or more arms. Starfish can shed their arms to protect themselves from danger, but can grow these arms back. They are found in the sand, in the rubble and on the coral. They are many different colors.
Now moving on to the plants that can be found in the Ocean.
Kelp is a form of algae, which can grow in shallow water. It grows at a very fast, and often grows to form an umbrella at the surface of the water. Kelp can be harvested and burned, the ash is used in making Soap and Glass products. Algin is from Kelp, and is used to thicken ice cream, jelly and toothpaste.
Seagrass is a marine flowering plant. There are more than 58 species of seagrass. The leaves are long and narrow and they often grow in large ‘meadow’ like areas. These meadows can be made up of single or mixed species. The more tropical the ocean, the more species will be found in a meadow of seagrass. They can be found in shallow and sheltered coastal waters, anchored in sand or mud. They undergo their entire life cycle underwater by submarine pollination. Seagrass recently has been discovered to be an important link in the marine food chain, with many animals feeding off of it, including green turtles, geese, swans and crabs.
I love the ocean. It is a very nice home to many animals and plants!!!Remember to save turtles and the other animals on the endangered list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S
I Love Turtles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
