Marine habitats
Earth is sometimes called the Blue Planet. That's because when you see it from space you see mostly oceans and seas, which cover more than 70 percent of our planet!
That's a lot of living space for marine plants and animals. And in Australia we're lucky, because our 36 000km of coastline stretches from the tropical north to the cool temperate zones. This means a wide variety of marine life thrives in our waters. For example, Australia has the highest diversity of temperate seagrass in the world. It also boasts the world's highest mangrove species diversity. And our rocky shores support many plants and animals that live nowhere else.
But Australia's marine biodiversity is under increasing pressure from humans. Understanding more about our marine habitats will help us appreciate their value and encourage us to work to protect them.
Last updated: 02 November 2005