Ocean-Related Words
The African penguin is a small, flightless bird that lives on islands off the coast of southern Africa.
An anchor is a heavy metal device that holds a ship in place.
Boats float in the water.
The blue shark is a sleek, fast-swimming shark with blue skin.
The blue whale is the biggest animal that ever lived. It eats tiny food that it sieves through baleen.
The bowhead whale is a large whale that eats tiny food that it sieves through baleen.
Breaching is when whales jump high out of the water. Sometimes whales spin around while they are breaching.
The bull shark is a dangerous predator that has a flattened snout.
Clams are animals with two shells. They burrow under the sand.
The clown fish is a colorful fish that lives with sea anemones.
The conch is a large, shelled animal from warm seas.
The cookiecutter shark is a small shark that takes circular bites out of its prey. Also known as the luminous or cigar shark.
Coral is a tiny ocean animal that lives in colonies. Some corals leave a hard, stony skeleton when they die.
Coral reefs are warm, clear, shallow ocean habitats that are rich in life.
A crab has a hard shell and eyes on stalks on its head.
The cuttlefish is a close relative of the octopus and the squid.
Angelfish are brightly-colored fish that live in warm water.
Angelsharks are sharks that have flat bodies and live on the ocean floor.
The basking shark is huge and eats very tiny animals that float in the ocean.
The beluga is a small, white, toothed whale that lives mostly in cold, arctic waters.
Coral reefs are warm, clear, shallow ocean habitats that are rich in life.
The dogfish shark is a small, very common shark that is found all over the world. It is not dangerous to people.
A dolphin is a marine mammal with a long nose and teeth. Dolphins are whales.
Dugongs are gentle, slow-swimming, aquatic mammals.
In echolocation (also called sonar), a high-pitched sound (usually clicks) is sent out. The sound bounces off the object and some returns. The returning echo is interpreted to determine the object’s shape, direction, distance, and texture. Dolphins (and other toothed whales) and some bats use sonar to navigate and find prey.
The eel is a long, snake-like fish.
The elephant seal is a huge seal that lives in the Pacific Ocean.
The emperor angelfish is a brightly-colored, flattened fish that lives in shallow warm waters.
The emperor penguin is the largest penguin; it lives on ice packs in Antarctica.
The fiddler crab is small crab that lives on beaches. The male fiddler crab has one enlarged claw.
Fish use their fins to swim.
The fin whale is a very large baleen whale. It is the second largest animal in the world.
Fish live in the water and breathe with gills.
Flippers are wide, flat limbs that many marine animals use for swimming. Seals and whales have flippers.
The tail of whales and dolphins is called the flukes (each half of the tail is called a fluke). Flukes have no bones in them. Whales swim by moving their flukes up and down in the water (fish move their tail left to right).
Giant Squid swim deep in the oceans. They have ten arms and their eyes are the size of basketballs.
Gills are organs that fish and amphibians use to breathe underwater.
The Goblin shark has a very long snout.
The gray whale is a baleen whale that eats tiny organisms from the mud on the bottom on the ocean.
The Great White shark is a large, meat-eating fish.
Gulls are birds that live near oceans and lakes.
The hammerhead shark has a head shaped like a hammer.
The harp seal is a marine mammal that lives in the North Atlantic and in the Arctic Ocean.
Hatchetfish are oddly-shaped fish from South and Central America.
Hermit crabs are crabs that lack a hard shell; they use a discarded shell for protection.
The horseshoe crab is a hard-shelled animal that lives in warm coastal waters on the sea floor.
The hull is the main body or frame of a ship.
Humpbacks are very acrobatic whales that sing beautiful, complex songs.
The intertidal zone is where the sea meets the land, the area between high tide and low tide.
Jellyfish are animals that have stinging tentacles.
The keel is the bottom of a ship.
Kelp is brown seaweed that grows in cold water.
Killer whales are also known as orcas. These whales eats hundreds of pounds of fish and marine mammals every day.
Krill are small marine animals that are eaten by many big animals, including some whales.
Lanternfish are fish that have light-producing organs and very large eyes.
The lemon shark is a yellowish shark.
A lighthouse shines a very bright light so ships won’t sail ashore or into rocks by mistake.
The limpet is a marine animal with a soft body and a flattened, cone-shaped shell.
A lobster lives on the ocean floor and has five pairs of legs. Lobsters have blue blood.
Lobtailing is when a whale sticks its tail out of the water into the air, swings the tail around, and then slaps the tail on the water’s surface. Lobtailing makes a very loud noise.
The macaroni penguin is a penguin from the Antarctic that has a yellow, feathery crest on its head.
The mako shark is a very fast shark with bluish skin.
Manatees are gentle, slow-swimming, aquatic mammals.
The Portuguese man-of-war is a floating colony of animals that has very long, stinging tentacles. It lives in warm ocean waters.
Manta rays are harmless fish and are related to sharks. Mantas are the biggest rays.
Marine mammals live in the sea and breathe air. Seals, sea lions, whales, and others are marine mammals.
The moray eel is a long, snake-like fish that has circular gills.
The narwhal is an Arctic whale; the male has a huge tooth.
The nautilus is a sea animal related to the squid and octopus!
The nurse shark is a large predator that lives in warm water in coral reefs.
The octopus is an ocean animal (a cephalopod) that has eight arms and lives on the sea floor. The plural of octopus is octopuses.
Orcas are also known as killer whales. An orca eats hundreds of pounds of fish and marine mammals every day.
An otter is a playful aquatic mammal.
The oyster is a soft-bodied marine animal that is protected by two hard shells.
The pelican is fish-eating bird with a huge, pouched bill.
Penguins are birds that cannot fly but swim very well.
Plankton are tiny organisms that float in the seas and other bodies of water. Plankton is the base of the oceanic food web.
A group of whales is called a pod.
Polar bears are large meat-eaters live in the far north. They have clear-colored hair and black skin.
A porpoise is a marine mammal with a long nose and teeth. They are also known as dolphins; they are a type of toothed whales.
A porthole is a window in a ship.
A propeller is a device with blades that is turned by an engine; it makes boats (and some airplanes) move.
The prow is front part of a ship.
Also called blowfish, this poisonous fish can swallow water to double its size.
The queen conch is a large, shelled animal from warm seas. It is in danger of extinction.
A ray is a flat fish that is related to the sharks. Many have a long tail that stings.
Reefs are warm, clear, shallow ocean habitats that are rich in life.
Right whales are baleen whales with a huge head and an arched mouth. They were almost hunted to extinction.
The rockhopper penguin is a small, aggressive, crested bird that cannot fly.
A rowboat is a small boat that is propelled by oars that a person moves.
A sail is a large piece of strong fabric that catches the wind and propels a boat or sailboard through the water.
A sailboat is a boat that has sails and is powered by the wind.
The sailfish is a deep-sea fish. It is the fastest fish in the sea and can swim up to 68 miles per hour (110 kph).
Salmon are fish that live in the sea and spawn in fresh water.
Sand is a loose material composed of fine debris of rock and mineral particles.
Sand Dollars are coin-shaped spiny-skinned sea bed animals that have 5-part radial symmetry.
Scales are thin, hard, overlapping plates on some animals. Fish are covered with scales. Butterfly wings are made of scales.
Scallops are animals that have two shells and live on the ocean floor.
Scuba divers swim under the water and carry their own air in a tank on their back.
A sea is a large body of salt water that is connected to an ocean. A sea may be partly or completely surrounded by land.
A sea snemone is a predatory sea animal that looks like a flower and lives on the ocean floor.
Sea cows (also called manatees) are gentle, slow-swimming, aquatic mammals.
Sea cucumbers are cylinder-shaped animals that live on the sea floor.
The sea gull is the common name for some birds that live near oceans and lakes.
Seals are animals that live in the ocean but breathe air. They are marine mammals.
Sea lions are eared seals that live off the coast of western North America.
Sea otters are marine mammals with very dense, waterproof fur.
Sea stars, another name for starfish, are animals that live on the ocean floor.
The sea urchin is a spiny, globular animal that lives on the ocean floor.
Seaweed is a plant that lives in the sea.
Sharks are meat-eaters that have no bones, only cartilage (which is softer than bone) in their skeleton.
Some animals grow a shell for protection.
A ship is a very large boat.
Shrimp are small animals that live in the water.
A snail is a small, slow animal with its own shell.
A sponge is a primitive animal that lives in the water.
Spyhopping is when a whale pokes its head up out of the water and turns around, perhaps to look around.
Squids swim in the oceans. They have ten arms and an ink sac.
Starfish (also known as sea stars) are animals that live on the ocean floor.
A stingray is a flat fish with cartilage instead of bones. Its sting is in its tail.
A submarine is a vessel that can travel underwater and carry people.
The sunfish is a large fish with an almost circular, flattened body.
When you swim, you move around in the water.
The swordfish is a large fish with a long, sharp bill.
Terns are birds that are sometimes called “sea swallows.”
The thresher shark has a a greatly-elongated top part of the tail.
Tiger sharks are large, fierce sharks that have faint stripes.
A tugboat is a sturdy boat that guides large boats in and out of harbors.
The tuna is a very large, bony fish that lives in the ocean. People eat a lot of tuna.
A walrus is a northern marine mammal with ivory tusks.
Water is a liquid that we drink and use to wash. Water covers over two thirds of the surface of the Earth, and much of our body is made of water.
There are waves of water in the ocean.
The Weddell seal is a large, nocturnal marine mammal from Antarctica (near the South Pole).
Whales are large marine mammals. Whales breathe air using lungs.
The whale shark is the biggest shark and the biggest fish, but it eats tiny food that it sieves through its gills. It is not a whale; it is a shark.
Whelks are ocean animals with a hard, spiral shell.
Xiphias is the group (genus) of swordfish, fast-swimming fish that have a long, sharp bill.
A yacht is a very nice small ship.
Zooplankton are tiny animals that float in the seas and other bodies of water.