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  A to Z of Oz Marine Life    
   
A to Z of Australian Marine Life
   
Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems. The biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species, which is the product of nearly 3.5 billion years of evolution. Biodiversity provides many ecosystem services that are often not readily visible. It plays a part in regulating the chemistry of our atmosphere and water supply. Biodiversity is directly involved in water purification, recycling nutrients and providing fertile soils. Experiments with controlled environments have shown that humans cannot easily build ecosystems to support human needs; for example insect pollination cannot be mimicked by human-made construction, and that activity alone represents tens of billions of dollars in ecosystem services per annum to humankind.

The conservation of biological diversity is a global priority requiring strategic conservation plans that engage concerns affecting local, regional and global scales of communities, ecosystems, and cultures. The recent era we are living in is known to science as the Holocene extinction period, with the current extinction rate the most rapid loss of biodiversity when measured against the other five major extinction spasms recorded in the fossil record. Conserving biodiversity and action plans are needed to sustain human well-being and global economics, including natural capital, market capital, and ecosystem services.

The A-Z compilation of Marine Creatures is a small taste of our amazing Australian marine biodiversity most of which in some way may be effected by climate change through Ocean acidification and Habitat loss as a few examples.

 

Using the A to Z in teaching

 
   
A Abalone (Blacklipped)
Anglerfish, D’Entrecasteaux

Anemone, Red Waratah
Australian Sea Lion
B Black coral
Blacklipped Abalone
Blenny
, Queensland
Box Jelly
Blue Jelly Blubber

Blue ring octopus

Brown Tube Worm
C Cone shell, Textile
Coccolithophores
Coral, Black
Crab, Red face Hermit
Cuttlefish
D D’Entrecasteaux anglerfish
Dugong
E Eastern Blue Groper
Eel,
Yellow moray
Egg cowrie
Elephant snail
F Fan Worm
Feather duster worm
Fish, Red Indian
Fish, Viper
Foraminifera
G Green turtle
Greynurse shark
Groper, Eastern Blue
Grouper, Queensland giant
H Humpback whale
I Isopod - Southern Chaetiliid
J Jelly, Blue Blubber
Jelly, Box
Jewfish
John Dory
K Krill, Pacific
L Leafy Seadragon
Live-bearing seastar
M Mantis Shrimp
Mulberry Oyster Borer
Mulloway
N New Zealand Fur Seal
Nudibranch
O Octopus, Blue ring
Ostracod
Oyster Borer, Mulberry
P Pacific Krill
Phytoplankton
Pyjama squid
Q Queensland Blenny
Queensland giant grouper
R Red face Hermit crab
Red Indian fish
Red Waratah Anemone
S Seadragon, Leafy
Seadragon, Weedy
Seal, New Zealand Fur
Seastar, Live-bearing
Sea Lion, Australian
Shark, Greynurse
Shark, Tiger
Shark, Whitefin swell
Shrimp, Mantis
Snail, Elephant
Violet Sea Snail
Southern Chaetiliid (an isopod)
Squid, Pyjama
T Textile Cone shell
Tiger shark
Tube Worm, White
Tube Worm, Brown
Tun shell
Tuna, Yellow fin
Turtle, Green
U Umbrella shell
Unicorn sole
V Violet Sea Snail
Viper fish
W Weedy Seadragon
Whale. Humpback
White Tube Worm
Whitefin swell shark
Worm, Fan
Worm, Feather duster
X Zooxanthellae
Y Yellow fin tuna
Yellow moray eel
Z Zooplankton

 



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