Oceans Marine Vocabulary Word List: Useful Ocean Words with Examples and Pictures

Words That Start With B

• Bacteria
• Balance
• Barnacle
• Barracuda
• Barrier reef
• Bass
• Bar
• Barge
• Basalt
• Basin
• Bathyscaphe
• Bathysphere
• Bays
• Beach
• Bends
• Beneath
• Benthos
• Birds
• Bivalve(s)
• Blowfish
• Boatyard
• Body of water
• Bottom
• Bounty
• Breakers
• Breaking
• Breakwater
• Brine
• Brittle star
• Buoy

Words That Start With C

• Changing
• Chiton
• Clam
• Clown fish
• Cliff
• Climate
• Coastline
• Cod
• Coelacanth
• Collide
• Commerce
• Communication
• Community
• Conch
• Conquest
• Contamination
• Continent
• Continental crust
• Continental shelf
• Copepod
• Coral reef
• Coral
• Crab
• Creature
• Crustacean
• Current
• Cuttlefish
• Cycle

Words That Start With D

• Data
• Deep
• Delicate
• Deposit
• Depth
• Desalt
• Destructive
• Diatoms
• Discovery
• Dissolve
• Distance
• Diversity
• Diving
• Dock
• Documentation
• Dogfish
• Dolphin
• Domain
• Dredge
• Drift
• Dumping ground
• Dunes
• Dugong
• Dwell
• Dynamic

Words That Start With E

Words That Start With F

• Facilities
• Features
• Feeding
• Fertilizer
• Fin
• Fish
• Fishing
• Fjord
• Flounder
• Flying fish
• Float
• Florescence
• Flourish
• Fluctuation
• Fluid
• Food chain
• Force
• Fur seal

Words That Start With G

• Gar
• Giant
• Giant squid
• Global warming
• Globe
• Gravitational pull
• Gravity
• Gulf
• Grouper
• Gull
• Guyot
• Gyre

Words That Start With H

• Habitat
• Hammerhead shark
• Hadal
• Harbor seal
• Harp seal
• Harness
• Heave
• Hermit crab
• Herring
• Hemisphere
• Host
• Horseshoe crab
• Houseboat
• Hurricane
• Humpback whale

Words That Start With I

• Iceberg
• Imperiled
• Incoming
• Indian
• Industry
• Influences
• Inquiry
• Interaction
• Interdependence
• Intertidal zone
• Invasive
• Invertebrate
• Islands

Words That Start With J

• Jetsam
• Jellyfish

Words That Start With K

• Kelp
• Kelp forest
• Killer whale
• Kinetic
• Knot
• Krill

Words That Start With L

• Lagoon
• Land
• Lap
• Larvae
• Layers
• Level
• Leviathan
• Life
• Light
• Lightening
• Limit
• Liquid
• Living
• Limpet
• Littoral zone
• Lobster
• Loggerhead turtle

Words That Start With M

• Mackerel
• Mako shark
• Magma
• Majesty
• Mangrove
• Man-o’-war
• Manatee
• Manta ray
• Mapping
• Marine
• Maritime
• Marine biology
• Marine life
• Marsh
• Megamouth shark
• Mid-ocean
• Migration
• Mix
• Mollusk
• Momentum
• Monitor
• Motion
• Movement
• Mollusk
• Moray eel
• Mullet
• Mussels
• Murky

Words That Start With N

• Naturalist
• Nautical
• Navigation
• Narwhal
• Nautilus
• Neap tide
• Nekton
• Numbers
• Nutrient

Words That Start With O

• Ocean
• Oceanic
• Oceanography
• Octopus
• Offshore
• Oozes
• Operation
• Organism
• Orca
• Outgoing
• Overfishing
• Otter
• Oxygen
• Oyster

Words That Start With P

• Pacific
• Pattern
• Peaceful
• Pearl
• Pelagic
• Phenomena
• Phytoplankton
• Phytoplankton
• Pinniped
• Plankton
• Planet
• Plants
• Plate tectonics
• Pollutant
• Pound
• Pompano
• Porpoise
• Predator
• Prediction
• Pressure
• Prey
• Production
• Products
• Protection
• Purify
• Pufferfish

Words That Start With Q

• Quantity
• Quest
• Queen conch

Words That Start With R

• Ray
• Realm
• Recreation
• Recreation
• Reef
• Renewal
• Research
• Reserves
• Resource
• Restoration
• Rhythm
• Ria
• Ridges
• Riptide
• River rat
• Right whale

Words That Start With S

Words That Start With T

Words That Start With U

• Ubiquitous
• Undertow
• Underwater
• Unique
• Universal
• Unlimited
• Upwelling
• Urchin

Words That Start With W

Words That Start With V

• Valley
• Vapor
• Variation
• Vast
• Velocity
• Volcano
• Volt

Words That Start With Y

• Yacht
• Yawl
• Yellowfin

Words That Start With Z

• Zigzag
• Zone
• Zooplankton

List of Words to Describe the Ocean

Buoy

• Meaning: floating object in the sea to serve as a warning or guide
• Examples: A buoy marked the entrance to the anchorage.

Brine

• Meaning: salty water
• Examples: Please marinate the meat in the brine.

Current

• Meaning: directed movement of sea water
• Examples: The swimmer was swept away by the current.

Dead zone 

• Meaning: spots in the ocean with low oxygen and lack of sea life
• Examples: Welcome to the dead zone.

Deep blue sea

• Meaning: description of sea water
• Examples: I am cought between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Deepwater

• Meaning: water of great depth
• Examples: The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns in the Gulf of Mexico.

Estuary

• Meaning: spot where the river meets the sea
• Examples: We live near the Thames estuary.

Hurricane

• Meaning: tropical cyclone that forms over the Atlantic Ocean or the Caribbean
• Examples: The hurricane caused widespread devastation.

Inlet 

• Meaning: thin area of water coming from a larger body
• Examples: The valley sides steepened into a fjord-like inlet.

Isle

• Meaning: island
• Examples: He is from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.

Loch

• Meaning: arm of the sea
• Examples: They fished the loch for salmon.

Nautical

• Meaning: relating to ships or the sea
• Examples:  Nautical To leave, as a port or harbor; depart.

Ocean floor 

• Meaning: the bottom of the sea
• Examples:  Ships towing huge magnets trolled the ocean floor.

Ocean water 

• Meaning: water in the sea
• Examples: Nor is large-scale desalination of ocean water economical.

Open sea

• Meaning: sea that is away from land
• Examples: The fishing boats headed for the open sea.

Saltwater 

• Meaning: brackish water with high salt content
• Examples: The water in the ocean is all saltwater.

Salty

• Meaning: having high saline content
• Examples: They gave her salty water to make her vomit.

Seacoast 

• Meaning: land that touches the sea
• Examples: The small country has no seacoast, but is locked in by other nations.

Seaway

• Meaning: ocean travel route
• Examples: In 1959 the St Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping.

Seven seas 

• Meaning: all the oceans of the world
• Examples:  I travel the world & the seven seas.

Surface water 

• Meaning: top layer of the ocean
• Examples: Pollutants can acidify surface water.

Tide pool

• Meaning: pool revealed in rocks when the tide goes out
• Examples: Free tide pool tours are offered during the summer through Redwood National Park.

Tsunami

• Meaning: tidal wave
• Examples: In 1896, a tsunami on the Sanriku coast left 27, 122 dead.

List of Creatures of the Ocean and Sea with meaning and Pictures

• Abalone

Meaning: mollusk found in warm seas

• Barracuda – Meaning:  predatory tropical saltwater fish

• Barnacle – Meaning: a crustacean that attaches to structures such as boat hulls, rocks, and docks

• Blowfish – Meaning: fish that can inflate its body

• Clownfish – Meaning: brightly colored, striped tropical fish

• Coral – Meaning: tiny marine animals with hard exoskeletons

• Coral reef – Meaning: a large grouping of coral, typically occurring in warmer seas and teeming with sea life
• Crab – Meaning: crustacean with five sets of legs that include one set of pincers

• Dolphin – Meaning: sociable sea mammal that is a small whale

• Elephant seal – Meaning: large breed of marine mammal

• Flying fish – Meaning: tropical fish with large, winglike fins that appears to fly over the top of the water when it jumps out

• Giant squid – Meaning: deepwater fish that can grow to an extremely large size

• Jellyfish – Meaning: a gelatinous clear-colored aquatic invertebrate with stinging tentacles

• Lobster – Meaning: large, cylinder-shaped marine crustacean with five sets of legs including one set of pincers

• Manatee – Meaning: large, plant-eating, aquatic mammal

• Mollusk – Meaning: invertebrate, often with a shell
• Octopus – Meaning: cephalopod mollusk with eight legs

• Otter – Meaning: semi-aquatic mammal related to the weasel

• Oyster – Meaning: shelled bivalve mollusk with a rough shell

• Sea turtle – Meaning: ocean reptile with a leathery shell

• Sea anemone – Meaning: aquatic invertebrate with a column shaped body and tentacles

• Sea urchin – Meaning: spiny sea creatures

• Seagull – Meaning: commonly used name for gulls

• Seahorse – Meaning: marine fish that swims upright

• Shark – Meaning: predatory saltwater fish

• Shrimp – Meaning: small marine crustacean

• Sponge – Meaning: marine cellular organisms with porous bodies

• Stingray – Meaning: flat cartilaginous fish

• Walrus – Meaning: large sea mammal with tusks

• Whale – Meaning: large marine mammal

Ocean Words | Images