Marine Biology

The ocean’s beauty, mystery, and variety of life, are the main attractions for people to study marine biology. Marine biology is the more general science of biology applied to the sea. Most of the disciplined in biology are represented in marine biology. Marine biology has many branches, viewpoints, and approaches. It is also closely related to oceanography, the scientific study of the oceans. Geological oceanographers study the sea floor, chemical oceanographers study ocean chemistry, and physical oceanographers study waves, tides, currents, and other physical aspects of the sea.



Life on earth is believed to be originated in the sea, therefore the study of marine life teaches us much about all life on earth, not just in the sea. Marine life helps determine the very nature of our planet. Marine organisms produce much of the oxygen we breathe and help regulate the earth’s climate. Thus, to make full and wise use of the sea’s living resources, to solve any kind of problems marine organisms may create, and to predict the effects of human activities on the life of the sea, we must learn all we can about marine life. In addition, marine organisms provide clues to the earth’s past, the history of life, and even our own bodies that we must learn to understand. This is the challenge, the adventure, of marine biology.

From the first time people saw the ocean, they started to learn about marine life. Archaeologists have found ancient harpoons and simple fishbooks of bone or shell. While they gathered food, people learned through experience which things were good to eat and which were bat-tasting or harmful. Knowledge of the ocean and its organisms expanded as people gained skills in seamanship and navigation.

The Phoenicians were the first accomplished Western navigators and by 2000 B.C. they were sailing around the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Black Sea, eastern Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean. Ancient Greeks had considerable knowledge of nearshore organisms in the Mediterranean region. They even used an electric ray (Torpedo) to deliver the first electrical simulation therapy. During the 4th century B.C., the Greek philosopher Aristotle described many forms of marine life. He even recognized, among other things, that gills are the breathing apparatus of fish. Therefore, Aristotle is considered by many the first marine biologist. During the 9th and 10th centuries the Vikings continued the exploration of the northern Atlantic Ocean and they discovered Vinland, what we now call North America. Furthermore, Arab traders and people in the Far East also continued to explore and learn about the sea.

During the Renaissance, a lot of voyages of exploration began by the Europeans. Christopher Columbus rediscovered the “New World” in 1492. In 1519 Ferdinand Magellan embarked on the first expedition to sail around the globe. Fairly accurate maps, especially of places outside Europe, began to appear for the first time. The explorers were soon interested and curious about the ocean they sailed and the things that lived in it. James Cook, an English sea captain, was one of the first to make scientific observations along the way and to include a full-time naturalist among his crew. Furthermore, Cook was the first to make use of a chronometer” that enable him to prepare reliable charts.

By the nineteenth century it was common vessels to take a naturalist along to collect and study the life forms that were encountered. Perhaps the most famous of these shipboard naturalists was the Englishman, Charles Darwin. He sailed around the world on HMS Beagle for five years, horribly seasick most of the time. The Beagle’s primary mission was to map coastlines, but Darwin used the opportunity to make detailed observations of all aspects of the natural world. This set off a train of though that led him, years later, to propose the theory of evolution by natural selection”. Darwin made many other contributions to marine biology. He explained, for example, the formation of the distinctive rings of coral reef called atolls.

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“I felt the full breadth and depth of the ocean around the sphere of the Earth, back billions of years to the beginning of life, across all the passing lives and deaths, the endless waves of swimming joy and quiet losses of exquisite creatures with fins and fronds, tentacles and wings, colorful and transparent, tiny and huge, coming and going. There is nothing the ocean has not seen.”

-Sally Andrew