Deep, mysterious oceans sweep across our planet, making up 99 percent of the living space on Earth. Beneath their rolling waves lies an extraordinary web of life that ties together creatures great and small.
Small fish:
Small fish often protect themselvesfrom predators by swimming inlarge groups called schools.
Large fish:
In the open ocean, even large fish mustbeware of seabirds, sharks, toothedwhales, and other predators.
Sharks:
The fiercest sharks, such as the great white, are apex predators with most other sea life at their mercy.
Octopus:
An octopus is an adept hunter, able to break into shells for food and paralyze fish with its toxic saliva.
Plankton:
These tiny plants and animals drift on ocean currents, as they cannot swim. Most marinelife depends on plankton to survive.
Shellfish:
Many marine mollusks live in shells and feed by sifting plankton from the water.
Krill:
These tiny crustaceans feed on plankton and in turn are devoured in swarms by larger animals.
Whales:
Amazingly, huge humpbacksand other baleen whales survive primarily on feasts of tiny krill.
Corals:
Corals are very much alive. They are made up of tiny, soft-bodied animals called polyps, which feed on plankton.
There may be more than a million species living in the world’s oceans. They vary incredibly, from the largest animal that ever existed to creatures too small for the human eye to see. While some dip and dive in sunlit surface waters, others lurk far below in the pitch-black abyss. Discover their amazing world as you plunge into the Ocean Emporium!
Copyright © 2019 by Susie Brooks (Author); Dawn Cooper (Illustrator). All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
