The ocean is home to an enormous variety of animals. Some are tiny enough to hide inside a shell, while others are larger than a bus!
Some ocean animals are mammals, including Seb the seal, whales and dolphins. Marine mammals breathe air, give birth to live young and feed their babies milk. Seals spend much of their lives in the water, but they also come onto land or ice to rest and have their pups.
Pennu may live near the ocean too, but he is not a mammal. He is a penguin, and penguins are birds. They have feathers, lay eggs and use their flippers to zoom through the water. Who needs to fly through the sky when you can fly beneath the waves?
Whales are among the most amazing mammals in the sea. The blue whale is the largest animal known to have lived on Earth, yet it mainly eats tiny creatures called krill. Many other baleen whales also filter krill, plankton and small fish from the water using comb-like plates called baleen.
Orcas are actually the largest members of the dolphin family. Different groups of orcas prefer different foods. Some mainly eat fish, while others hunt seals, squid and even other whales. That may sound frightening, but remember: animals are not being mean. Predators hunt because they need food to survive, and every animal has a place in the ocean food web.
Dolphins are clever, social animals that often live and travel together. Some dolphins are curious about boats and may even surf in the waves near them. Imagine being able to swim so fast that the ocean becomes your own water slide!
The ocean is also filled with fish, from tiny colourful reef fish to enormous sharks. Yes, sharks are fish too! Coral reefs can be crowded with thousands of bright creatures darting between corals, rocks and waving sea plants.
Then there are the invertebrates—animals without backbones. This enormous group includes jellyfish, octopuses, squid and crabs.
Have you ever been stung by a jellyfish? Ouch! We hope not.
Octopuses can squeeze through surprisingly small spaces, squid can jet through the water, and crabs often scuttle sideways across the seabed. They may not have backbones, but they certainly have plenty of character.
From gentle giants to tiny drifting jellyfish, every ocean animal is part of a wonderful underwater world—and there is always something new to discover.