Did you know? An estimated 50-80% of all life on earth is found under the ocean surface and the oceans contain 99% of the living space on the planet. Less than 10% of that space has been explored by humans. 85% of the area and 90% of the volume constitute the dark, cold environment we call the deep sea. The average depth of the ocean is 3,795 m. The average height of the land is 840 m. Currently, scientists have named and successfully classified around 1.5 million species. It is estimated that there are as little as 2 million to as many as 50 million more species that have not yet been found and/or have been incorrectly classified. According to World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) there are currently at least 212,906 named marine species. So, there are at least 199,146 marine species but there are most likely at least 750,000 marine species (50% of 1.5 million species) and possibly as many as 25 million marine species (50% of 50 million species). The oceans cover 71% (and rising) of the Earths surface and contain 97% of the Earths water. Less than 1% is fresh water, and 2-3% is contained in glaciers and ice caps (and is decreasing).
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 09:14:33 +0000
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