The Scale of the Sea — From a Molecule to a Whale

One screen, eleven orders of magnitude. Watch the scale climb — or drag it yourself.

LEVEL 1 · 10⁻⁹ M

Water Molecule

The chemistry that makes life possible.

1 nm
Approx. size
×
Smaller than next
Inorganic
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scroll for the full depth tour ↓

Aquatic Ecology — From Molecules to Whales

A single-page tour of the ocean's living hierarchy. Watch the layers swim by.

1 · Molecules

10⁻⁹ m · the building blocks

Water (H₂O), dissolved O₂, CO₂, nitrogen & phosphorus — the chemistry that makes life possible.

O H H C O O O O

2 · Cells & Microbes

10⁻⁶ m · the first life

Bacteria & archaea recycle nutrients. They make up most of the ocean's living biomass.

3 · Phytoplankton

10⁻⁴ m · primary producers

Diatoms & algae photosynthesize — the base of the food web. They make ~50% of Earth's O₂.

4 · Zooplankton

10⁻³ m · drifting grazers

Copepods, krill & larvae eat phytoplankton. They are the great middle link of the ocean.

5 · Invertebrates

cm scale · jellies, shrimp, mollusks

Jellyfish drift with the currents. Shrimp and snails graze the seafloor.

6 · Small Fish

10–30 cm · the schoolers

Sardines, anchovies, herring. They feed on zooplankton and feed everything bigger.

7 · Larger Fish

0.5–3 m · pelagic predators

Tuna, mackerel, mahi-mahi. Fast, warm-blooded hunters chasing the schools.

8 · Apex Predators

3–10 m · top of the chain

Sharks, swordfish, orcas. Few enemies. Their presence keeps every layer below in balance.

9 · Great Whales

25–30 m · the largest animal ever

The blue whale — bigger than any dinosaur — filters tons of krill daily. The pinnacle of the food web.

10 · Ecosystems & Ocean

km scale · the whole system

Coral reefs, kelp forests, open ocean & deep sea — every level above coexists in balance. Lose one, the rest wobbles.

▶ Companion features

Three deeper tours — restoration on land, at sea, and twenty meters underwater.

🌊 MARINE RESTORATION → 🏞 FRESHWATER RESTORATION → 🤿 SCIENTIFIC DIVING →

How the food web flows ↑

Sunlight + molecules feed phytoplanktonzooplankton graze them → small fish eat zooplankton → larger fish eat them → apex predators hunt those → and great whales filter or hunt their way through it all. When any layer crashes (overfishing, pollution, warming) the whole column above wobbles. That's why aquatic ecology studies every scale at once — from H₂O to humpback.

By Dan Close · HSU Master's Thesis · Cal Poly Humboldt Marine Sciences · single-page animated infographic, works offline

🧠 Quick Quiz

Test your dive — tap an answer.

Tip — click any zone for a deeper dive · hover an organism to see its name · press Space to pause motion · arrow keys to step through zones.