Oceans for Dummies

Dive deep to explore the ocean

From how most of our oxygen is created by phytoplankton, to how currents control our climate, to the marine food chain and the importance of coral, this is the holy grail of ocean books that’s easy for everyone to digest. 

It features fun facts about some of the most incredible, bizarre, and fascinating creatures in the ocean, from mantis shrimp that can strike things with the speed of a .22 caliber bullet to fish with clear heads that can see out of the top of their skulls. The ocean is full of wonders and there is still so much left to explore and understand.

• How our oceans work
• What creatures live in the ocean
• Find out how the ocean regulates our climate and weather patterns
• How growing pollution threatens our ocean and its inhabitants

Oceans For Dummies is perfect for anyone with an interest in the ocean, including kids, adults, students, ocean lovers, surfers, fishermen, conservationists, sailors, and everyone in between.

Ashlan and Philippe Cousteau are world-renowned environmental advocates, filmmakers, and authors with a passion for adventure. Philippe is the founder of EarthEcho International, a leading global voice for ocean conservation. Ashlan is a journalist and storyteller who has explored all seven continents.

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started with Your Ocean Voyage 5

Chapter 1: Brushing Up on Ocean Fundamentals 7

Taking a Nickel Tour of the Ocean(s) 8

Dividing the ocean into oceans or not 8

Recognizing the ocean zones 9

Dropping in on the different ecosystems 10

Going with the Flow: The Physical Properties of the Ocean 10

Getting up to speed on the water cycle 11

Checking out what’s at the bottom of the ocean (and below) 13

Riding waves, tides, and currents 13

Recognizing the ocean’s role in climate control and weather 14

Meeting the Ocean’s Inhabitants 14

Recognizing strength in numbers: Marine microorganisms 15

Going green with marine plants and plant-like organisms 15

Grouping the ocean’s animals 16

Exploring the Complex and Evolving Human-Ocean Relationship 17

Chapter 2: Appreciating the Ocean’s Many Gifts 19

Supplying Over Half of the World’s Oxygen 20

Playing a Key Role in Regulating Climate and Weather 20

Producing Protein for Billions of People 22

Contributing Trillions to the Global Economy 23

Serving as a Source of Mystery and Wonder 24

Stimulating our imaginations 25

Increasing our knowledge of the world around us 26

Getting in touch with our emotional connection to the sea 27

Chapter 3: Looking Back at the Ocean’s History (and Prehistory) 29

Discovering How the Ocean Got Its Start 30

The wet planet theory 30

The water delivery truck theory 31

Tracing the Evolution of Ocean Life 31

Getting the evolutionary ball rolling 32

Going cellular 32

And now for a word about metabolism 33

All together now: Multicellular organisms 34

Taking evolution to the next level in the Paleozoic era 35

Gaining momentum in the Mesozoic era 41

Increasing sophistication in the Cenozoic era 44

Taking the Earth’s Present Evolutionary Pulse 48

Looking Ahead: What’s in Store for the Ocean’s Future? 51

Part 2: Finding Your Way Around 55

Chapter 4: Mapping the Ocean by Zones 57

Dividing the Ocean into Three Horizontal Zones 58

Where land meets sea: The intertidal zone 58

Wading through the neritic zone 60

Heading out to sea: The oceanic zone 61

Exploring the Five Vertical Zones of the Water Column 62

Skimming the surface: The epipelagic zone 62

Dimming the lights in the mesopelagic zone 63

Taking a deeper, darker dive into the bathypelagic zone 65

Delving into the abyss: The abyssopelagic zone 67

How low can you go? The hadalpelagic zone 69

Acknowledging the Existence of Other Zones 71

From light to dark: The photic and aphotic zones 71

From top to bottom: The pelagic and benthic zone 72

Chapter 5: Checking Out the Neighborhoods: The Ocean’s Ecosystems 73

Hugging the Shore 74

Digging life in the sand 74

Living life on the rocks 75

Mixing it up in the estuaries 77

Muddling through the mudflats 78

Settling down in salt marshes 80

Meandering through the mangroves 81

Swimming through Kelp Forests 83

Swirling in Sargasso: A Sea without Borders 85

Grazing in the Seagrass Meadows 87

Building Their Own Communities: Reefs 88

Coral reefs 88

Oyster reefs 92

Chilling Out at the Poles 92

Living Under Extreme Conditions: Deep Ocean Ecosystems 95

Hydrothermal vents 95

Deep-sea coral reefs 95

Cold seeps 97

Whale falls 97

Moving Out and About: Migratory Species 98

Chapter 6: Taking a Deeper Dive: Beneath the Ocean 99

Grasping the Basics of Plate Tectonics 99

Tracing the Contours of the Seafloor 102

Creating the first map of the seafloor 104

Fine-tuning seafloor maps with better technology 105

Chipping Away at Ocean Rock and Sediment 106

Checking Out Deep-Sea Cores 106

Part 3: Sampling the Vast Diversity of Sea Life 109

Chapter 7: Getting to Know the Mighty Microbes 111

Meeting the Marine Microbes 112

Bacteria 112

Archaea 114

Viruses 114

Protists 115

Fungi 115

Recognizing the Importance of Microbes 116

Feeding the ocean’s living organisms 117

Anchoring food chains and webs 118

Cleaning up our messes 122

Looking at the Relationship between Microbes and Plankton 123

Phytoplankton 123

Zooplankton 123

Distinguishing lifers from juvies 124

Chapter 8: Sorting Out Algae, Seaweed, and Other Aquatic Vegetation 127

All You Need to Know about Algae, and Then Some 128

Go big or go home: Macroalgae (a.k.a seaweed) 128

Small, but just about everywhere the sun shines: Microalgae 132

Understanding the threats posed by harmful algae blooms (HABs) 134

Shoring Up the Shoreline with Mangroves 137

Not Your Typical Lawn: Seagrass 138

Checking Out What’s Growing in the Salt Marshes 139

Chapter 9: Getting the Lowdown on Simple Invertebrates 141

Sponges and Other Holy Creatures: The Porifera 142

Calcarea 143

Demospongiae 143

Hexactinellida 145

Homoscleromorpha 145

Jellyfish, Anemones, and Other Notable Cnidarians 146

Scyphozoans 147

Hydrozoans 148

Anthozoans 149

Cubozoans 150

Ctenophora (Comb Jellies) 150

Starfish, Urchins, and Other Famous Echinoderms 151

Asteroidea (sea stars) 151

Ophiuroidea (brittle stars) 152

Echinoidea (sea urchins and sand dollars) 153

Crinoidea (sea lilies and feather stars) 154

Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers) 155

Squirmy Wormies: The Annelids 156

Polychaetes 156

Oligochaetes 158

Hirudinea 158

Chapter 10: Getting Mushy over Mollusks 159

Meet the Mother of All Mollusks 160

Gastropods: Putting Their One Foot Forward 161

Snails 161

Sea slugs and sea hares 165

Bivalves: Parts One and Two 167

Clams 167

Oysters 168

Mussels 169

Scallops 169

Cephalopods: Head and Tentacles Above the Rest 170

Octopi 171

Squid 172

Cuttlefish 174

Nautilus 175

Chapter 11: Wearing Their Skeletons on the Outside: Crustaceans 177

What Makes a Crustacean a Crustacean? 178

The Shrimpy Crustaceans: Branchiopoda 178

Real Softies: Malacostraca (Soft-Shell Crustaceans) 180

Phyllocarida 180

Hoplocarida 181

Eumalacostraca 182

A New Twist on Putting Your Foot in Your Mouth: Maxillopoda 190

Copepods 190

Barnacles 191

Fish lice 191

Crustacean Cave Dwellers: The Remipedia 192

Ostracoda 192

What about Horseshoe Crabs? 193

Chapter 12: Getting Chummy with Fish: Bony and Otherwise 195

Look Ma, No Jaw! Agnatha 196

Lampreys 196

Hagfish 197

Look Pa, No Bones! Chondrichthyes 198

Elasmobranchii: The fish with a PR problem 199

Holocephali: Chimaera 208

Check Out the Bones! Osteichthyes 209

Ray-finned 211

Lobe-finned 215

Chapter 13: Meeting a Few Marine Reptiles 217

Everybody’s Favorite: Sea Turtles 218

Meet the family 219

Making babies 223

A seriously threatened animal 224

Will the Real Sea Serpent Please Slither Forward? 225

The Only Lizard to Make the Cut: Marine Iguanas 227

Saltwater Crocodiles 228

Chapter 14: Bird Watching in and Near the Ocean 231

Knowing What Makes a Bird a Shorebird or a Seabird 232

Shorebirds 232

Seabirds 233

Flying Way Below the Radar: Penguins 234

Going Loony 236

Courting Grebes 237

Tubular, Dude! Albatross, Petrels, Shearwaters, and Fulmars 238

Soaring with the albatross 238

Skimming the surface with shearwaters 239

Fluttering above the surface with petrels 240

Pelicans and Other Pelecaniformes 241

Pelicans 242

Frigate birds 243

Boobies and gannets 243

Cormorants and shags 245

Phaethontidae — Tropicbirds 246

Sea Ducks and Geese: The Saltwater Variety 246

A Curious Mix: The Charadriiformes 247

Gulls, terns, skimmers, and friends 247

Auks, puffins, and other Alcids 249

Shorebirds and waders 251

Ospreys, Herons, Flamingos, and Other Seaside Attractions 253

Osprey 254

Eagles 255

Herons 255

Flamingos 256

Chapter 15: Getting Warm and Fuzzy with Marine Mammals 257

What Makes Marine Mammals So Special? 258

Staying toasty 258

Breathing easy 259

Adapting to their food source 259

Adapting to salt water 263

Exhibiting special sensory adaptations 263

Getting Acquainted with the Cetaceans: Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises 265

Sizing up baleen whales 266

Sinking your teeth into the toothed whales 270

Swimming with the Sirenians: Manatees and Dugongs 276

Seals, Walruses, and Other Pinnipeds 277

Earless (true) seals 278

Eared seals 279

Walruses 280

Stepping Out with the Marine Fissipeds 281

The ever-popular polar bears 281

Otters you “oughter” know 283

Part 4: Grasping Basic Ocean Physics 285

Chapter 16: Following the Ocean in Motion 287

Meeting the World’s Largest Wave Machine 288

Plain ol’ surface waves 288

Tsunamis: So-called tidal waves 289

Rising and falling with the tides 291

Going unnoticed: Internal waves 294

Upwelling and Downwelling in the Water Column 295

Riding the Currents: The Ocean’s Global Conveyor Belt 296

Knowing Where the Winds Blow 298

Going Round and Round with Gyres 301

Following the Ups and Downs of Sea Levels 303

Chapter 17: Driving Climate and Weather 307

Understanding the Ocean’s Role in Climate and Weather 307

Differentiating climate and weather 308

Looking at how the ocean impacts climate and weather 308

Letting Off Some Steam 309

Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons 309

Monsoons 312

El Niño and La Niña 312

Understanding Climate Change and Global Warming 314

Part 5: Understanding the Human-Ocean Connection 319

Chapter 18: Taking a Quick Dip into the History of Underwater Exploration 321

Getting to the Bottom of Things 322

Diving bells 322

Hard-hat diving helmets and suits 324

The self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) 324

Submersibles 328

Setting Up Shop in Underwater Research Stations 333

Conshelf 333

SeaLabs 334

Aquarius 335

Checking Out Other Ocean Monitoring Gadgets and Technologies 335

Buoys (moored and drifting) 335

Coring, dredging, and trawling tools 337

Water column samplers 337

Sonar and lidar 338

The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) 338

Chapter 19: Tapping the Ocean’s Resources: The Blue Economy 341

Supplying the World’s Seafood Diet 342

Harvesting plant life, too 343

Growing our own supplies: Aquaculture and mariculture 344

Tapping the Sea as a Source for Fresh water 344

Shipping Goods ‘Round the World 345

Digging Up Gold, Diamonds, and Other Valuables: Deep-Sea Mining 345

Harnessing the Ocean’s Energy Resources 346

Discovering New Medications 348

Capitalizing on Tourism and Recreation 349

Accounting for a Few Ancillary Ocean Benefits 349

Carbon storage (a.k.a blue carbon) 349

Coastal protection 351

Cultural value 351

Biodiversity 352

Chapter 20: Governing the Ocean: Treaties, Laws, Agreements, and Enforcement 353

Recognizing the Two Systems of Law That Govern the Seas 354

Admiralty Law 354

The Law of the Sea 355

Establishing Sovereign and International Jurisdictions 357

Understanding sovereign jurisdiction 357

Ruling the high seas: International jurisdiction 359

Policing the Ocean and Enforcing the Laws 360

Preventing illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing 361

Combating piracy on the high seas 361

Chapter 21: Taking Care of the Ocean That Takes Care of Us 363

Keeping Tabs on Ocean Health 364

Zeroing in on the Problems 365

Pollution 366

Overfishing 372

Acidification 373

Habitat destruction 374

Invasive species 374

Warming sea temperatures 374

Coming Up with Solutions 377

Improving socio-economic conditions 377

Building marine sanctuaries 378

Cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 380

Restoring and conserving coastal and ocean habitats 381

Reducing the impact of plastics and other trash 382

Preventing and recovering from overfishing 382

Engaging youth 383

Get involved! 384

Part 6: The Part of Tens 385

Chapter 22: Ten Deadly Ocean Creatures 387

Saltwater Crocodiles 388

Fugu Fish 388

Killer Whales 389

Blue-Ringed Octopus 389

Sea Snake 390

Stone Fish 390

Sharks (But Not All of Them) 391

Cone Snails 392

Box Jellyfish 393

Humans 393

Chapter 23: Ten Ocean Myths Busted 395

Melting Sea Ice Increases Sea Levels 395

Sharks Must Swim Constantly to Survive 396

Some Penguins Can Fly 397

Salt Water Kills Bacteria 397

Seawater is Just Salty Water 398

Waterspouts Are Tornadoes Over Water 398

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a Solid Mat of Plastic 399

All Jellies Can Sting Humans 399

The Ocean is Blue Because It Reflects the Color of the Sky 400

Nothing Lives in the Middle of the Ocean 400

Chapter 24: Ten Ways You Can Help Preserve the Ocean 401

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint 402

Steer Clear of Plastics 403

Make Sustainable Seafood Choices 403

Use Ocean-Friendly Sunscreen 404

Don’t Buy Products That Exploit Marine Life 405

Vote for the Ocean with an Environmental Conscience 405

Defend Your Drain: Use Natural Products 406

Protect Your Local Watershed 406

Make It a Family Affair 407

Join and Support Ocean Conservation Organizations 408

Index 411

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