You'll soon see a fifth ocean on your maps, now officially recognizing the Southern Ocean, the waters swirling around Antarctica, marking the first time National Geographic has made such a change since it started drawing up maps over a century ago. On World Ocean's Day earlier this week, National Geographic announced the distinction, which many scientists and researchers have unofficially acknowledged for decades.
Harlequin shrimps feed on starfish up to 10x their size by flipping them over so they cannot escape. They will then feed on them throughout the next few days whilst they are still alive!
Most of the picturesque white sand on tropical beaches is actually parrotfish poop. These colourful reef fish scrape algae off corals, often eating just as much coral as algae, which they break down and excrete as sand. The average parrotfish will poop out over 100kg of sand a year.
Scientists found this strange creature at the Great Barrier Reef's Lizard Island and named it, aptly, the Christmas tree worm. The spiral "branches" are actually the worm's breathing and feeding apparatuses, while the worm itself lives in a tube. These tree-like crowns are covered in hair-like appendages called radioles. These are used for breathing and catching prey, but they can be withdrawn if the Christmas tree worm feels threatened.
Because of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which extends 200 miles along its long continental coastlines, Alaskan peninsula and other island territories, over half of the USA is actually in the ocean.
Brown trout and sea trout are the same species but it is unclear why some seem to choose to migrate to sea while others stay at home. Some trout appear to leave for sea but then change their minds, and are known as "slob trout".
Sound travels faster in the ocean , it travels underwater at a speed of 1435m per second, almost five times faster than in air.
Aside from shipwrecks and other archaeological artifacts, you can also find a lost city underwater. Archaeologists discovered the lost city of Thonis/Heracleion off the coast of Egypt in 2000 that was long thought to be merely the stuff of legend.
The largest animal migration by mass on the planet occurs in the ocean every single day and it's not geographical, but vertical. Every night millions of deep-sea creatures travel thousands of metres upwards to feed on plankton that rise to the surface, before retreating back to the depths before morning. It is known as the Diel Vertical Migration.
Moray eels are not aggressive when they open and close their mouth, they are actually just breathing!