Ways to use this list
- Ocean zones poster: spin an animal and stick it in the sunlit, twilight or midnight zone, then see which zone fills up fastest.
- Rock pooling warm-up: press Rock pool finds before a beach trip and learn what each creature looks like, so children know what to search for in the tide pools.
- Under-the-sea mural: everyone draws the creature they spin, cuts it out and adds it to one big classroom ocean.
- Twenty questions: one player peeks at the spin while the others ask yes-or-no questions such as "Does it have a shell?" or "Does it breathe air?"
- Sort it out: decide whether each spin is a mammal, fish, reptile or animal without a backbone; the dolphin and the whale shark catch many people out.
Press Spin the wheel, tap the game or press the Space bar. Change the list in the box as you
like: add your own, delete what doesn't suit you, or write *2 after an entry to give it double the
chance. The game buttons switch the same list to a duck race, hat, claw machine and more.
The full list (48 entries)
- Blue whale
- Humpback whale
- Orca
- Sperm whale
- Narwhal
- Beluga whale
- Bottlenose dolphin
- Sea otter
- Walrus
- Harbour seal
- Sea lion
- Manatee
- Dugong
- Green sea turtle
- Leatherback turtle
- Marine iguana
- Sea snake
- Octopus
- Giant squid
- Cuttlefish
- Nautilus
- Jellyfish
- Portuguese man o' war
- Starfish
- Sea urchin
- Sea cucumber
- Sea anemone
- Coral
- Sea sponge
- Lobster
- Crab
- Hermit crab
- Mantis shrimp
- Krill
- Horseshoe crab
- Giant clam
- Nudibranch
- Great white shark
- Whale shark
- Hammerhead shark
- Manta ray
- Seahorse
- Clownfish
- Pufferfish
- Anglerfish
- Moray eel
- Swordfish
- Penguin
Questions people ask
What is the biggest animal in the sea?
The blue whale, which can reach about 30 metres (almost 100 feet) and is the largest animal known to have ever lived, bigger than any dinosaur. It eats mostly krill, tiny shrimp-like animals that are also on the wheel.
Is a starfish a fish?
No. A starfish is an echinoderm, related to sea urchins and sea cucumbers, with no backbone and usually five arms. That is why marine scientists prefer the name sea star. Jellyfish are not fish either.
What lives in the deep sea?
Press Deep sea to find out. Far below the sunlight live anglerfish with glowing lures, vampire squid, see-through barreleyes and giant tube worms that crowd around hot springs on the sea floor. Many deep-sea animals make their own light.
Is a horseshoe crab really a crab?
No. Horseshoe crabs are more closely related to spiders and scorpions than to true crabs, and their blood is blue. Animals very like them have lived in the sea for more than 400 million years, long before the first dinosaurs.