The Unimaginable Abundance of Ocean Life

When we think of ocean life, our minds often drift to images of majestic whales, playful dolphins, colorful coral reefs, and the wide assortment of seafood people love to eat. While the abundance of ocean life seems staggering, the life we tend to think about only represents a tiny fraction of the ocean's true biological richness. This World Oceans Day, let's think a little deeper about the ocean and this astounding reality: The ocean harbors about 100 times more life than we typically imagine.

We have a terrestrial view of the ocean that's very biased. If we don’t see marine life —  either in person or through media — we rarely (if ever) think about it. There’s a staggering amount of marine life that falls into this category, from the very large to the microscopic. Here are just a few examples:

The (should be iconic) oarfish.

I still find it astounding that few people are aware of creatures like oarfish. It’s a living sea serpent that grows up to 10 meters long and often hangs vertically in the ocean column. It’s like a giraffe — only taller. If it lived in our terrestrial world, hardly a single person wouldn’t be aware of its existence, and there would be kid-drawn sketches of them plastered on our fridges. 

The (should be famous) salps

There’s a great layer of life in the ocean’s twilight zone, where two-thirds of the world’s animals live. Most people are completely unaware of their existence. They include the most common fish in the ocean, the bristlemouth; the most common animal, the copepod; and my personal favorite, the salp. This is a creature that looks like a jellyfish but isn’t one. It’s a voracious predator that can clone itself, doubling in size in just 10 hours. It’s one of our greatest climate heroes — doing far more to reduce the impacts of the climate crisis than carbon removal machines are ever likely to achieve.

The (miraculous) ocean microbes

Tiny organisms like plankton, bacteria, and viruses make up over 90% of the ocean's biomass. There are about a billion microbes in a single liter of seawater. These microscopic marvels are the unsung heroes of our world, playing crucial roles in nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, and forming the foundation of the marine food web. They are the foundation of life on Earth, but we rarely consider them and their critical importance.

Understanding and appreciating the vast and varied life in the ocean is not just fascinating; it has profound implications for our planet and our future. So, this World Oceans Day, let's expand our perspective and recognize our oceans' vast, often overlooked wealth of life. Let us celebrate the day with a renewed sense of wonder and respect for the hidden abundance that lies within our oceans and do everything we can to protect it, not just for its sake, but our own.

Written by Richard Vevers

Top image credit Christian et Noe Sardet / Plankton Chronicles;
Salp image credit L.Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution