From crabs to octopuses, clams to marine worms, invertebrates play a significant role in ocean ecosystems. Many are important prey for fish, marine mammals, and humans. Others, such as corals and oysters, create essential habitat for marine species.
NOAA Fisheries is responsible for the sustainable management of many species of invertebrates—including white shrimp, Alaska snow crab, and Quahog clam—commonly harvested for human consumption. We are also responsible for protecting invertebrate species listed under the Endangered Species Act such as white abalone and elkhorn coral.
Invertebrates are the most diverse group of animals in the ocean. Some common marine invertebrates include mollusks, crustaceans, and corals.
Mollusks are a category of invertebrates with over 50,000 known species. They are soft-bodied animals that may have a hard external shell (formed by secreting calcium carbonate), a hard internal shell, or no shell at all. Mollusks include abalone, conch, oysters, and clams, as well as octopus and squid.
Crustaceans are a subcategory of invertebrates closely related to insects and spiders. They typically have a body covered with a hard shell or crust. Crustaceans include shrimp, krill, lobsters, and crabs.
Corals are known as colonial organisms because many individual creatures live and grow while connected to each other. The tiny, individual organisms that make up large coral colonies are called coral polyps. Stony, shallow-water corals—the kind that build reef habitat—are one type of coral. There are also soft corals and deep sea corals that live in dark, cold waters.
Species News
Sunflower sea star. Photo: Janna Nichols
Dr. Abigail Reft poses in front of an image of a nematocyst, the specialized stinging capsules that allow animals like jellyfish to sting. Reft provided this image and others to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago for their jellyfish exhibit. Image courtesy of Dr. Abigail Reft.
Juvenile sea scallops obtained from Pine Point Oyster Company in Maine were used in this ocean acidification exposure study.
Hugh Cowperthwaite, CEI Senior Program Director for Fisheries and Aquaculture, holds up a lantern net while describing the method of scallop farming with lantern nets hung vertically in the water. Credit: NOAA Fisheries
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Research
Passive Acoustic Research in the Atlantic Ocean
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State of the California Current Ecosystem in 2021: Winter is coming?
Scientists evaluate whether physical and biological conditions in the California Current Ecosystem…
Monitoring the Ecosystem in the Northeast
Collect, Distribute, and Analyze: Our long-term ecosystem data (hydrography, ocean chemistry, plankton) and analyses feed research into everything from North Atlantic Right Whales to stock assessments. Collaborate: We work closely with fishing…
Incorporating Spatial Heterogeneity and Environmental Impacts Into Stock-Recruitment Relationships for Gulf of Maine Lobster
A study of how spatial diversity and environmental effects can be incorporated into functional…
Understanding Sustainable Seafood
Well-managed wild-capture fisheries and environmentally responsible marine aquaculture play an increasingly important role in our food supply, our health, and the environment.
