Terms
A community of organisms that interact with each other and their physical environment.
What is an ecosystem?
Special stinging structures characteristic of organisms in phylum Cnidaria.
What are nematocysts?
What are air bladders?
A term used to describe toothless whales.
What are baleen whales?
Although sunlight reaches this ocean layer, photosynthesis cannot occur here.
What is the twilight layer?
A close living situation between 2 species where at least one of the species benefits.
What is symbiosis?
This organism from class Cnidaria produces cup-shaped walls around each polyp.
What is coral?
Organs used to remove oxygen from water.
What are gills?
The ability to create, send out, and receive sounds in order to identify nearby objects.
What is echolocation?
The only plant group that is completely marine.
What are seagrasses?
This marine organism converts nitrogen gas into a usable substance for other marine creatures.
What is cyanobacteria?
This layer of tissue produces a mollusk's shell.
What is the mantle?
These organisms have a whip-like tail with stinging spines at its base.
What are stingrays?
These mammals belonging to order Sirenia are known for their large bodies, which are designed to accommodate their long digestive tract.
What are manatees?
The production of visible light by living organisms.
What is bioluminescence?
The collective term for marine invertebrates with a hard external skeleton.
This protein gives organisms from phylum Porifera their flexible and elastic properties.
What is spongin?
Birds use this structure to waterproof their feathers.
What are oil glands?
Term describing groups of whales hunting together.
What are pods?
This ecosystem experiences the greatest environmental changes of all ecosystems.
The intertidal zone.
This animal-like microorganism is forced to float along with the ocean current.
What is zooplankton?
The method by which organisms in phylum Echinodermata move.
What is a water vascular system?
The scientific classification for non-bony fish.
What is class Chondrichthyes?
This group of animals is known for their "flipper feet".
What is order Pinnipedia? (or pinnipeds)
The greatest produces of oxygen on the planet.
What are single-celled (eukaryotic) algae?