ocean habitats
Undersea living spaces
Ocean habitats are the distinct environments within the sea where marine life lives and thrives.
These range from sunlit surface waters to the lightless deep, from coral reefs to kelp forests to hydrothermal vents.
Each habitat supports particular communities of organisms adapted to its conditions: Warming temperatures threaten ocean habitats worldwide.
The term appears frequently in marine biology and conservation contexts.
- seamountSubmerged volcanic elevation
- submarine canyonUnderwater valley cutting continental shelf
- coral reefsCalcium carbonate marine structures
- tide poolWave-stranded water hollow
- rocky shoreCoastline of boulders
beach · sea cave · salt marsh · mudflat · hydrothermal vent · mangrove swamp · oyster bed · barrier reef · tidal flat · twilight zone · sandy shore · atoll · trench · seafloor · bioluminescent · anemone · seabed · kelp
- ocean scienceoceanography, marine biology, marine ecosystems, marine science, marine research
- ocean lifesea, sea creatures, shark, sea life, whale
ocean habitatsdry land
Earth above water
desert habitats · forest ecosystems · tundra · forest habitats · prairie
ocean habitatsfreshwater habitats
Non-marine water ecosystems
freshwater ecosystems · river ecosystems · freshwater lakes · wetlands · marshes