14 Questions About Aquatic Animals Answered: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos

A tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier, swims in clear, shallow water above a sandy and rocky sea floor.

walrus (Odobenus rosmarus)

Illustration of a tropical two-wing flying fish (Exocoetus volitans) showing its long, wing-like pectoral fins and streamlined silvery-blue body, with a scale bar indicating size.

electric eel (Electrophorus electricus)

Several Pacific salmon leap up a rushing waterfall in Brooks River, Katmai National Park, Alaska, as they swim upstream to spawn.

A hermit crab, Coenobita species, with bright orange legs emerging from a large spiral shell on sandy ground.

Illustration showing a cross section of a coral polyp with labeled parts including tentacles with nematocysts, mouth, zooxanthellae, living tissue linking polyps, gastrovascular cavity, skeleton, and limestone calice. An inset details a nematocyst within a tentacle.

A pregnant male seahorse with a swollen belly clings to a plant stem in an aquarium, surrounded by yellow aquatic plants and white gravel.

See All Images →

Topics

Animal 10 Animals With Evolutionary Traits Plucked Straight Out of a Nightmare 8 Famous Animals 7 More Domestic Animals and Their Wild Ancestors 8 Nonhuman Casualties of Hurricanes Abundant Animals: The Most Numerous Organisms in the World 6 Domestic Animals and Their Wild Ancestors Fightin’ Fauna: 6 Animals of War 7 Animals That Turn White in Winter 6 Animals That Eat Their Mates 6 Animals We Ate Into Extinction