1. Can you think of any scientific names of marine organisms?
Mola mola
Octopus vulgaris
Aurelia aurita
Orcinus orca
Sunfish
Common Octopus
Moon Jellyfish
Killer Whale
Can you think of any scientific names of marine organisms?
Tursiops truncatus
Carcharodon carcharias
Salmo salar
Asterias rubens
Bottlenose Dolphin
Great White Shark
Atlantic Salmon
Teacher Comments: Present this as a guessing game based on the name presented. Get the audience thinking about key prefixes like ”Salmo” sounding like “salmon” and “Asterias” sounding like ”star.” Examples like ”orca” and “octopus” should be very well known and guessed. This slide should be presented by first revealing the scientific name, then the common name and finally the picture associated.
Common Starfish

2. Why is classification important?
Need to be able to tell different organisms apart
Group together similar organisms and identify man made effects on the sea, like pollution
Make sure that we are discussing the same species when communicating with other scientists
Shows relationships between different organisms
Fossilised fish found alive, shows evolutionary relationships
Teacher Notes: After delivering the content, reveal the picture of the fossilised fish and identify the characteristic of the fins evolving into walking like appendages and that we can see this snapshot in the fossil record. Then reveal that the fish is found still alive and we can see this first hand!

3. How can we tell them apart?
Quite easy as aren’t too similar and are large and well known
Teacher Comments: Identify key features like size, shape, feeding type, colouration pattern.

4. How about these? Spot the Difference!
Spire Shape and length
Ridges on shell
Lip of Shell
Teacher Comments: Present this as a spot the difference game, identifying features.
Operculum Shape
Need to pick up on subtle differences
Same down to genus level

5. Spot the Difference! These are the same species!
Some Species show different morphologies (shapes) so we need to understand them, sometimes we need to use genetic techniques

6. Importance of studying Marine Life
All life originated from the sea and still depends on it
Dependence for food (Fish and seafood), tourism and resources (Oil)
New Marine Technologies
Still much of ocean undiscovered
Teacher Notes: Convey to the audience the importance of the sea and our dependence on it for, but also how we have an impact on it through pollution, carbon emissions and fish farming. We need fish farms for food, but coastal fish farming releases waste products which stay in the environment and stagnate. The need for developing technologies like those developing oceanic fish farms form a better food production method and have a smaller impact on the environment. Shark skin has been shown to reduce drag and allow sharks to swim through water with as little drag as possible. Imitating shark skin means areas like sports gear, engineering and shipping can also be more dynamic in the water and reduce drag too.
Coastal Fish Farm
Oceanic fish Farms
Shark Skin Technology

7. Activity Who am I game Think of your favourite marine organism
Draw it and simplify it to its key features
People need to ask yes or no questions based on characteristics
Example Questions
“Does it have legs?”
“Can it swim?”
“Does it breathe air?”
Teacher Comments: This activity should take around 5-10 minutes. Get the audience to use questions designed to start identifying key features. Run through an example with the class.

8. Invertebrate Phyla Lack backbone Sometimes have a hard outer shell
Many different types of animals in this group
Sometimes bioluminescence in the deep sea for camouflage and communication
Why is it important to study them?
Used for food by larger organisms
Transfer energy from lower trophic levels
Teacher Comments: This part of the presentation focuses on invertebrate species, and this slide introduces the main invertebrate characteristics that will be further developed over the next few slides. The four key phyla to be looked at are the Cnidarians, Crustaceans, Echinoderms and Molluscs as they are the most common and play some of the most crucial parts in the marine ecosystem.

9. Teacher Comments: Show how the crustaceans (crabs, shrimps etc
Teacher Comments: Show how the crustaceans (crabs, shrimps etc.) and molluscs (octopus, squid, snails, clams, mussels etc.) are the foundations for the ecosystem and important for sustaining life. At this stage students will be introduced to biomass charts, this could perhaps link in with that identifying these phyla as the bottom of the trophic web, while also showing predatory characteristics too. In the example, molluscs and crustaceans make up over half of the pie chart and trophic levels 2, 3 and 5 on the pyramid.
Make up over 50% of invertebrate ecosystem and support higher forms of life