There are hundreds of animals inhabiting the oceans. The following losts only the major groups:
Sponges (phylum [order] Porifera)
Coelenterata
- hydroids (phylum Hydrozoa)
- jellyfish (phylum Scyphozoa)
- sea anemones (phylum Anthozoa)
- coral
- comb jellies
Marine Worms
Bryozoans (phylum Bryozoa)
Mollusca (100,000 species; 7 classes; these are found close to shore)
- snails and other single shelled (univalved) animals (Gastropoda)
- chitons (Polyplacophora)
- two-shelled (bivalved) mollusks (Bivalvia)
- squids and octopuses (Cephalopoda)
Anthropoda (75 percent of all animals - land and ocean)
- chelicertes (horseshoe crabs, spiders, and mites)
- insects
- crustaceans (crabs, shrimps, lobsters; neary all marine arthropods are crustaceans)
Echinoderms
- sea stars
- brittle stars
- sea urchins
- sea cucumbers
Tunicates (phylum Chordata)
- sea squirts or ascidians
Fish (vertebrates; nearly 50 percent of the 40,000 known species of vertebrates are fish)
- Cartilaginous fish (phylum Chondrichthyes - sharks, rays, and skates; 10 percent of all fish)
- Bony fish (phylum Osteichthyes - tuna, cod, salmon, etc.; 90 percent of all fish)
Marine reptiles (14 percent of the 40,000 known species of vertebrates are reptiles)
- crocodiles
- sea tutrles
- sea snakes
Birds(sea and shore)
- puffins
- shorebirds (shallow water waders)
- egrets, herons, and ibis
- sea ducks
- gulls, terns, and skimmers
- cormorants
- pelicans
- gannets
- frigatebirds
- pelagic birds (such as strom petrels)
- kingfishers
- ospreys
Marine Mammels
- whales (cetaceans) - baleen and toothes (toothed includes dolphins and porpoises)
- seals, walruses, sea lions (Pinnipedia)
- manatees or sea cows (Sirenia)
- sea otters (Mustelidae)
All of this information was obtained from "The Handy Ocean Answer Book."
