Most people have heard of endangered whales, but the list of endangered marine life contains many more species than just these charismatic mammals. Pollution, overfishing, habitat loss, and carbon emissions have all taken their toll on ocean life – creating a list of endangered marine species numbering in the high hundreds.
How Many Endangered Marine Animals Are There?
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains an extensive database of the world’s vulnerable and endangered species called the Red List of Threatened Species. A quick search of the Red List online shows there to be 634 vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered animals living in marine habitats.
However, the number of endangered marine species could actually be higher due to a lack of data, says the IUCN in their paper “Wildlife in a Changing World: An analysis of the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ed. Jean-Christophe Vie, et al). For example, of the 1045 species of sharks and their relatives, 17% are currently considered threatened (vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered); yet another 47% are listed as data deficient.
More Endangered Marine Life
Although endangered animals generally garner more attention among the public, they are not the only marine life under threat. The IUCN Red List names 30 plants and 6 protists living in marine habitats as threatened. Endangered protists include alga such as the Galapagos Stringweed (Bifurcaria galapagensis) and String Sargassum (Sargassum setifolium) both of which are threatened by climate change and increased predation by sea urchins due to overexploitation of fish.
Endangered marine plants include Japan’s Asian surf grass (Phyllospadix japonicas) threatened by coastal development, and Carribean Clover Grass (Halophila baillonii) threatened by watershed runoff.
Commonly Known Endangered Marine Species
Here are a few species many people have heard of, but perhaps did not know were under threat:
- Southern Bluefin Tuna (Critically Endangered – Thunnus maccoyii)
- Blue Whale (Endangered – Balaenoptera musculus)
- North Pacific Right Whale (Endangered – Eubalaena japonica)
- Great Hammerhead Shark (Endangered – Sphyrna mokarran)
- Great White Shark (Vulnerable – Carcharodon carcharias)
- Other endangered sharks
- Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle (Critically Endangered – Lepidochelys kempii)
- Green Sea Turtle (Endangered – Chelonia mydas)
- Staghorn coral (Critically Endangered – Acropora cervicornis)
- Galapagos penguin (Endangered – Spheniscus mendiculus)
- Atlantic Halibut (Endangered – Hippoglossus hippoglossus)
- Giant Sea Bass (Critically Endangered – Stereolepsis gigas)
How to Help Endangered Marine Life
There are many ways the average person can help save the hundreds of species of threatened coral, fish, marine mammals, and sea birds currently placed on the IUCN’s Red List. A good start is to eat only sustainably harvested sea food by looking at seafood guides. There are many ways to help the ocean from home, staying educated about the state of our oceans is just one of them.
Megan Jungwi - Megan Jungwi started her freelance writing career in March 2009. Although new to online writing Megan has long been passionate about the ...
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