The World Ocean

The world ocean is a huge body of

water.
It covers about 70% of Earth!
The water flows around and
between the areas of land.

ocean

land
The Five Oceans
Although the world ocean is all connected, it is divided on maps into
five oceans.
Arctic Ocean

North Europe
America Asia
Atlantic
Ocean Pacific
Africa Ocean

Pacific Ocean South

America Indian
Ocean Oceania

Southern Ocean

Antarctica
The World Ocean About 3% of the world’s
water can be found in
other places, such as
rivers or lakes.

Almost all of the Earth’s water

is in the ocean.
Frozen Ocean
The North Pole region is
in the Arctic Ocean.
The Arctic Ocean is a frozen ocean.

It is the smallest of the five oceans.

In winter, almost all of it is frozen. In
summer, some of the ice melts.
Ocean Depths
Some parts of the ocean are shallow.
We can paddle in the shore with the
water up to our ankles.
Other parts of the ocean are
much deeper.

Asia

Pacific
Mariana Trench Ocean The deepest part of the ocean is
10,984 metres deep!
This part of the ocean is called the
Mariana Trench. It is in the Pacific
Indian Ocean.
Ocean
Oceania
Mariana Trench
If you could put Mount
Everest at the bottom of
the Mariana Trench, the
top would not reach the
surface of the water.

Mount Everest is the tallest

mountain on Earth. It is 8,849
metres tall.

“Everest” by Mot the Barber is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Salt
The water in the ocean is salty. So, where
does the salt come from?
The salt in the sea used to be on land.
When rain falls, it washes the salt from
rocks.

This salty water then makes its

way into the ocean.
Humans get salt from seawater.
We use the salt to flavour our
food!
Underwater History
It is estimated that there are more
historic artefacts in the ocean than
there are in museums on land.
Over hundreds of years, many
ships have sunk and fallen to the
ocean floor.
Some planes have run into trouble
and fallen into the sea.
They are often filled with objects
that then stay underwater.
Underwater History North
America
Europe

Atlantic
Ocean
The Titanic was a very famous ship. Africa

In 1912, The Titanic hit an iceberg and South

America
sunk in the Atlantic Ocean.
Because the Atlantic Ocean is so enormous, the ship was lost for many years.
73 years after it sunk, the wreckage was finally found by an oceanographer (special
scientist) called Robert D. Ballard and his team.
Underwater History North
America
Europe

Atlantic
Ocean
The Titanic is still at the bottom of the Atlantic Africa

Ocean and has been there for more than 100 South
years. America

Scientists and historians have explored the ship.

This research has helped us to better understand
what happened in the disaster.
Many items have been recovered from the
wreckage, such as the ship’s bell.
Life in the Ocean
The ocean is a busy place, full of life. There are many different types of marine life
that live in the sea.
Some of them are fish. Although this is the sea creature most of us probably think of,
it is estimated that only about 2% of ocean animals are fish!
Fish
The type of fish that live in the ocean varies a lot!
Some are huge and some are tiny.
Some are colourful and some are dark.
Some swim in the shallows and some hide in the deep.

seahorse lemon butterflyfish manta ray

The Most Popular Fish
The most common fish in the ocean is a
bristlemouth.
These tiny fish glow in the dark.
They have sharp fangs.

It is thought that there are thousands of There are about 24 billion

trillions of bristlemouth on Earth! chickens on Earth.
This number looks like this: This number looks like this:
1000,000,000,000,000,000 24,000,000,000
A New Fish
The ocean is huge and can be very deep.
This means that there are parts of the
ocean that humans have not yet explored.
We know about lots of animals that live etelis boweni
in the ocean. We are discovering more of
them all the time. There
are still many that humans have never
seen! Asia

A new species of fish was discovered in

Pacific
2021. Etelis boweni is a big, bright-pink Ocean
fish. They can grow to be over 1 metre
long!
They live in the Indian Ocean and the
Pacific Ocean. Indian
Ocean
Oceania
Mammals dolphin

Lots of mammals also live in

the ocean.
Humans are mammals and we live on
land. Other mammals live in water and
look very different
to people!
Dolphins and whales are examples blue whale
of mammals that live in the ocean.
They breathe air and give birth to live
young, like people do.
They have fins and flippers like fish.
Huge Creatures
The largest animal on Earth lives in the They can grow more than 30
ocean! metres long. That’s longer than
The blue whale is a mammal. two buses!

They can weigh up to 150

tons. That’s about as much
as 1000 humans!

“Blue Whale” by Christopher.Michel is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Mollusks
There are lots of other animals that
live in the sea that aren’t mammals
or fish.
Mollusks are soft animals
without bones.
Octopuses, squids and cuttlefish cuttlefish
are mollusks.

octopus squid

“Squid” by Margaret McFall-Ngai is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Crustaceans
Crustaceans have bodies with a tough outer
shell.
They have antennae on their heads.
They have limbs with joints.
shrimp
Crabs, lobsters and shrimps
are crustaceans.

crab

lobster

“Shrimp” by Jannes Pockele and “Lobster” by Ed Bierman are licensed under CC BY 2.0
Reptiles
turtle
Reptiles are animals with scales. They are
usually found in warm places.
Reptiles breathe air, like mammals do.
Unlike mammals, reptiles lay eggs.
Most reptiles (except snakes)
have four limbs.
Turtles and sea snakes
are reptiles.

sea snake

“Sea Snake” by q.phia is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Tiny Creatures
There are billions of animals called
‘zooplankton’ in the ocean.
Some are easy to spot,
like jellyfish.
Some are small, like krill. krill jellyfish
Lots of zooplankton are too tiny for
humans to see! Scientists use a
microscope to look at them.
Zooplankton play a huge part in the
ecosystem of the ocean.
They provide food for many
animals, including whales
and sharks.
The whale shark eats
zooplankton.
Plants
It’s not just animals that live in the ocean.
Many types of plants can be found in the sea.
Seagrass and kelp are ocean plants.
The plants provide food for lots of
underwater creatures.
seagrass
Ocean plants also help humans and animals breathe!
It is estimated that we get more than 70% of the oxygen we
breathe from marine plants.

kelp

“Seagrass” by Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble and “Kelp” by NOAA’s National Ocean Service are licensed under CC BY 2.0
Ocean Quiz
How much have you learnt about the world’s oceans?
See how many of these ocean questions you can answer.
Ocean Quiz
Can you remember the names of the five oceans?

A_____
Arctic Ocean
Ocean

North Europe
America Asia
A_______
Atlantic
Ocean P______
Pacific
Africa Ocean

P______
Pacific Ocean
Ocean South
America I_____
Indian
Ocean Oceania

S_______
Southern Ocean
Show
Antarctica
Answers
Ocean Quiz
Where is most of the water on Earth?

in rivers in the ocean in lakes

Ocean Quiz
Which of the five oceans is frozen?

Arctic Ocean

North Europe
America Asia
Atlantic
Ocean Pacific
Africa Ocean

Pacific Ocean South

America Indian
Ocean Oceania

Southern Ocean
Show
Antarctica
Answer
Ocean Quiz
Choose the right word to complete this fact:

The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the ocean.

warmest

bluest

deepest
Ocean Quiz
Which of these things do humans get from seawater?

salt pepper sugar

Ocean Quiz
For how long has The Titanic been at the bottom of the ocean?

Over 10 years

Over 100 years

Over 1000 years

Ocean Quiz
On planet Earth, which are there more of?

chickens bristlemouth fish

Ocean Quiz
Which of these sea creatures is a mammal?

seahorse whale shark dolphin

Ocean Quiz
Which type of sea creature does not have bones?

mollusks fish mammals

Ocean Quiz
What do we get from sea plants?

light

oxygen

meat