The Ocean is home to many living things.

Both animals and plants live in the ocean.

Some of the animals that live in the ocean are made to look like plants.  But actually they are ocean animals that catch and eat small fish as they swim by .

Some ocean animals have their skeleton on the outside like this Pacific oyster.  Their hard shell protects them.

There are many wondrous creatures that live in the sea.  This is a typical five pointed star fish.  But there are other kinds of star fish that have many more than five points.

This is a blue crab sitting in a bed of coral. Like the oyster, his skeleton is on the outside also, to help protect him.

This is a fern seagrass.  Many of the plants that people have found in the ocean are very nutritious and are used as part of their everyday food, such as seaweed.

Large mammals called whales live in the ocean.

Here is a dolphin.  Like whales, dolphins are mammals.  That means that these animals have lungs to breathe and must come up to the surface of the water to get air.

To help them move through the water, fish have special fins.  The top fin is called a dorsal fin. It helps guide and direct the fish as it moves through the water.

Some dorsal fins get pretty fancy.

The fins on the sides of the fish help the fish turn from side to side.

The tail on the fish helps propel or pushes the fish through the water as it moves it back and forth.

This is a sea turtle.

This is a shark.  It is a feared predator of the deep blue seas.

This is a jelly fish.

And, yes, even Nemo lives in the ocean. Here is a clown fish.

But most of all, remember that many wonderous creatures live in the ocean.