Oceans form the largest habitat on the planet and are thought to be the place where all life started. Thousands and thousands of different animal species inhabit the world’s ocean waters and can be found at water depths of just a centimetre to nearly 11 kilometres beneath the water’s surface. The oceans are so big that they cover about 70% of the surface of the Earth.
Fast Facts about Oceans
1. The world’s oceans contain enough water to fill a cube with edges over 1000 kilometres (621 miles) in length.
2. Ocean tides are caused by the Earth rotating while the Moon and Sun’s gravitational pull acts on ocean water.
3. While there are hundreds of thousands of known marine life forms, there are many that are yet to be discovered, some scientists suggest that there could actually be millions of marine life forms out there.
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4. The majority of animal species are found in the warmer, coastal waters around the world, generally due to the abundance of food that is found in these areas when compared to the deep ocean.
5. The Pacific Ocean is the biggest ocean of the world and covers more than 30% of the Earth’s surface.
6. The Atlantic Ocean is about half the size of the Pacific Ocean and covers roughly 20% of the Earth’s surface. However it is growing in size as it is spreading along the Mid-Atlantic Coasts.
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7. We have only explored less than 5 percent of the Earth’s oceans. In fact, we have better maps of Mars than we do of the ocean floor (even the submerged half of the United States).
8. The worlds oceans contain nearly 20 million tons of gold.
9. During winter the Arctic Ocean is almost completely covered in sea ice.
10. Smaller aquatic animals tend to live in the shallower regions, and the larger animals live in the deeper regions, generally along the continental shelves beneath the waves.
11. The blue whale, the largest animal on our planet ever (exceeding the size of the greatest dinosaurs) still lives in the ocean; it’s heart is the size of a Volkswagen