An archipelago, sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
In oceanography, a tidal resonance occurs when the tide excites one of the resonant modes of the ocean. The effect is most striking when a continental shelf is about a quarter wavelength wide. Then an incident tidal wave can be reinforced by reflections between the coast and the shelf edge, the result producing a much higher tidal range at the coast.
The rock cod is a temperate fish found off the coasts of southeastern Australia, Tasmania, the Great Australian Bight and northwards up the southwestern Australia coasts. They are also found around the coasts of New Zealand and California. They belong to the family Moridae and are not related to the true cods. They are also known as beardie in Australia.
The small-headed cod or long-finned cod is a deepwater fish belonging to the morid cod family (Moridae), and related to the true cods. It is found in the Tasman Sea, including Bass Strait, and is commercially harvested by both Australia and New Zealand. It has been found on the continental shelf, but typically its depth range is from 750 to 1,000 m. It grows to 48 centimetres (19 in) in total length.
A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water known as a shelf sea. Much of the shelves were exposed during glacial periods and interglacial periods.
The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone and potentially the continental shelf. In a narrower sense, the term is used as a synonym for the territorial sea.
Goosefishes are anglerfishes in the family Lophiidae found in the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, where they live on sandy and muddy bottoms of the continental shelf and continental slope, to depths of more than 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is a sea zone prescribed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea over which a state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind. It stretches from the baseline out to 200 nautical miles (nmi) from its coast. In colloquial usage, the term may include the continental shelf. The term does not include either the territorial sea or the continental shelf beyond the 200 nmi limit. The difference between the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone is that the first confers full sovereignty over the waters, whereas the second is merely a "sovereign right" which refers to the coastal state's rights below the surface of the sea. The surface waters, as can be seen in the map, are international waters.
The family of marine fishes Hexagrammidae incorporates the greenlings. These fish are found on the continental shelf in the temperate or subarctic waters of the North Pacific. They are a well-known family in the littoral zone from southern California north to the Aleutian Islands. The most commercially important species is the lingcod, a common food fish.
The sixgill sharks are a genus, Hexanchus, of deepwater sharks in the family Hexanchidae. These sharks are characterized by a broad, pointed head, six pairs of gill slits, comb-like, yellow lower teeth, and a long tail. The largest species can grow up to 8 m long and weigh over 600 kg (1320 lb). They are continental shelf-dwelling and abyssal plain scavengers with a keen sense of smell and are among the first to arrive at carrion, together with hagfish and rattails. They show a characteristic rolling motion of the head when feeding. They have been found at depths to 2,500 ft (760 m). Though only two extant species were originally known, a third, the Atlantic sixgill shark, was found to exist.
The continental margin is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin is the shallow water area found in proximity to continent. The continental margin consists of three different features: the continental rise, the continental slope, and the continental shelf. Continental margins constitute about 28% of the oceanic area.[1]
Geologically, the Sahul Shelf is part of the continental shelf of the Australian continent, lying off the northwest coast of mainland Australia.
The giant stargazer, Kathetostoma giganteum, is a stargazer of the family Uranoscopidae, found on the continental shelf around New Zealand and endemic to that area.
The frilled toadfish is a fathead sculpin of the family Psychrolutidae, found on the continental shelf around Australia's Macquarie Island.
The Oman bullhead shark, Heterodontus omanensis, is a bullhead shark of the family Heterodontidae found in the tropical western Indian Ocean around central Oman, from the surface to a depth of 72 m on the continental shelf. This species can reach a maximum length of 61 cm, but on average, reaches 56 cm. This shark was described in 2005, making it one of the most recently described of its genus. The Oman bullhead shark likely is accidentally caught as bycatch, putting the species at risk.
The whitespotted bullhead shark, Heterodontus ramalheira, is a bullhead shark of the family Heterodontidae found in the western and northern Indian Ocean between latitudes 22°N to 26°S, at depths between 40 and 305 m. It can grow up to a length of 83 cm.
The sailback houndshark is a houndshark of the family Triakidae, and the only member of the genus Gogolia. It is found in the deep waters of continental shelf off northern Papua New Guinea. Only one specimen has been found, at a depth of 73 m. It measured 74 cm in length. The reproduction of this shark is ovoviviparous.
The Arctic consists of land, internal waters, territorial seas, exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and high seas. All land, internal waters, territorial seas and EEZs in the Arctic are under the jurisdiction of one of the eight Arctic coastal states: Canada, Norway, Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Finland and the United States. International law regulates this area as with other portions of the Earth.
The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is a peculiarity of the political geography of the United States. The OCS is the part of the internationally recognized continental shelf of the United States which does not fall under the jurisdictions of the individual U.S. States.
Echinoderidae is a family of kinorhynchs in the order Cyclorhagida.
