The Earth is covered with almost 2/3rd portion of water including oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, etc. but in this article, we will only focus on sea and its animal kingdom. Sea is a home for various water animals that are an important part of the ecosystem & food chain underwater.
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In the sea, you will find a huge variety of water animals having different sizes, shapes, colours, nature, behaviours, etc.
Every animal is important to maintain proper balance in the aquatic ecosystem. In the sea, you will find majorly five different types of sea animals.
What are the different types of sea animals?
Planktons
Planktons are very small types of sea animals that only float on the water surface instead of swimming like other sea animals.
The most common plankton found in the sea ecosystem is krills, jellyfish, shrimps, etc. Many sea animals like whales directly or indirectly depend on planktons for food.
Types of sea animals names
Coral
Corals are the colourful sea creatures that look very beautiful from its appearance. Corals are closely attached to each other and make colonies.
Their colony is known as a polyp. The polyps have mouth covered by tentacles which help to protect and capture food.
Fishes
One of the major sea animals are Fishes they are found in every sea of the world. Fishes are found in several species in the seas across the world.
Fishes are the sea vertebrates that use their gills to breathe in water. Their body is covered with numerous scales, unlike our skin.
They are cold-blooded animals and use their fins & tail to swim. Some examples of fishes that are quite common to see in seas are as follows.
- Sharks
Sharks are known as the hunters of the sea. Unlike other fishes there skeleton is made up of cartilage,
Sharks have many rows of sharp teeth covered with very strong laws that have enough power to tear off their food quite easily. They do not chew their food rather they swallow it.
Sharks get their food from other sea animals like bony fishes, marine mammals, squids, sea turtle, etc. Their sense of smell is very good which helps them to find food.
- Rays
Rays are also a commonly found fish in sea culture. Ray fish look very different than the common fish structure. It looks completely flat having eyes on its top with a long thin tail.
Ray fishes mostly live in groups. Some rays have spines in their tail that help to kill the food to eat.
- Eels
Eels are types of sea animals that live in deep seawater in holes known as eel pits. Its appearance is very much similar to snakes but it has all the features of a fish.
It also uses fins to swim around the water. Their fins look very different than common fishes. They have fused fins looks like a long ribbon throughout the length of their body.
Type of sea animal
Mammals
A large group of mammals also dominates the ecosystem of the sea. Mammals are warm-blooded and have lungs to breathe.
These animals have a hole at the back of their heads known as a blowhole. They use a blowhole to breathe and make a huge spray in the air while exhaling like whales. Some examples of mammal types of sea animals with name are-
Types of sea animals names
- Whales
Whales are one of the wonderful creations of nature. Worlds largest animal is the whale. Whales have an approximate weight of up to 100-200 tonnes.
The well-known whales are blue whale and orcas. Blue whales eat plankton called krill and are very friendly underwater. Popularly known as killer whales Orcas feed on sea lions, seals, sharks etc.
- Dolphins
Dolphins belong to the whale family but are very friendly & intelligent in behaviour. They live in a group called pods.
These pods may range from one dozen to hundreds of dolphin members. They eat seals, squid, and other small fishes.
- Sea otter
Sea otter is a beautiful animal whose body is covered with dense & shiny fur. The fur acts as an insulator that plays an important role to keep it warm in cold water. Sea otter feeds on crabs, shellfishes, clams, mussels, etc.
- Walruses
The subarctic area is the finding place for walruses. They are a large creature of the sea that appears brown. Walruses have flippers use to swim & tusk to break through ice & defend from attacks.
Walruses depend on mussels, clams, etc. to fulfil their food requirements.
- Elephant Seal
As the name suggests, the snout of an elephant seal appears like the trunk of an elephant. Elephant seals are carnivorous types of sea animals.
Due to its trunk-like snout, it makes a loud roaring sound. They have long canine teeth but most of them are present below the gum line. The diet of an elephant seal mainly includes fishes and squids.
Types of sea animals
- Crustaceans
Crustaceans are types of sea animals that have a hard shell to protect their body from attacks. The common crustacean family members are crabs, prawns, crayfish, shrimps, lobsters, barnacles, etc.
If we talk about the food habits of crustacean, most of them are scavengers that feed on dead sea creatures, whereas some others like lobster & crab prey small creatures for food.
Apart from these five different types of sea animals (mentioned above), there are many other types of animals. Some examples are as follows-
Types of sea animals names
- Seahorse
It is an amazing sea creature that looks like a horse from its head & neck. Seahorse has a long snout and a twisted tail.
An interesting fact about sea horse is that it lacks a stomach, hence it consumes its food quite slowly. They eat larval fish and small crustaceans.
- Mollusks
Since mollusks do not have the backbone, hence they come under invertebrate types of sea animals. Mollusks such as squids, slugs, scallops, snail, clams, etc.
Use their radula to scratch and eat small plants and animals. Some other mollusks like octopus and cuttlefish are very expert to camouflage themselves to hunt for food.
Types of Sea animals
REPTILES
Reptiles are the sea animals who have adapted themselves to be able to live in aquatic & semi-aquatic conditions. They differ from each other on their basis of living habitat
Types of sea animals
- Snakes
When we talk about the reptile family, the very first animals that come on top are snakes. There are almost 50 species of sea snakes that live in shallow water.
Well, almost all the sea snakes are poisonous and found in different colours like brown, black, yellow, grey, etc. Sea snakes mainly depend on eels & other small fishes for food.
- Turtle
Turtles also belong to the sea reptile family. They look beautiful when they swim. They have a protective shield which is very hard in structure.
Turtles come out of the sea to lay eggs on the beaches. As far as, their food habits are concerned, they eat plants, insects, frogs, algae, small fishes, mollusks, etc.
- Oyster
Shallow seawater is the place where they found. Two important parts of the oysters shell are connected through muscular hinges.Its common diet is plankton and algae.
A common fact about oysters is that they produce pearls (not necessarily all the oysters produce pearls) but it also has ecological importance.
It is a filter-feeder and plays a vital role in controlling water pollution by filtering food particles from water.
- Penguin
. Penguins have a black & white appearance and look very beautiful. This sea bird feeds on fish, squids, krills, etc.
Penguins are found in cold places like Southern Hemisphere & they are the flightless sea birds. This is not the end of various types of sea animals. Our oceans consist of numerous sea animals which are all unique in their own way and to summarize them in one article is not easy.
We, have mentioned all the important types of sea animals along with the types of sea animals name that will help you to acquaint with sea ecology to some extent.