Today is #WorldOceanDay 🌊
Did you know at least eight million tonnes of plastics end up in the oceans every year?
We take a look at 8 critically endangered marine species 👇
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Great hammerhead sharks are known for their distinctive mallet-shaped heads.
They are often targeted for their fins and caught as bycatch during fishing.
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European eels have snake-like bodies that can reach a length of 1.3 metres.
Dams and hydroelectric turbines disrupt eels’ migration routes, and overfishing has caused a steady decline in their population.
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The sunflower sea star is one of the largest sea stars in the world. In the past 30 years, the population has declined by 90% globally.
Causes include sea star wasting syndrome, potentially caused by rising temperatures.
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The angelshark is a nocturnal bottom-dwelling shark species.
They are very susceptible to accidentally being caught in bottom fishing gear as they live and feed on the bottom of the sea.
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The scalloped hammerhead shark is found worldwide in tropical to warm temperatures.
They have declined across all the oceans except the waters of the northwest Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico due to the implementation of various bans and treaties.
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The oceanic whitetip is found most commonly in warmer tropical and subtropical waters across the world.
They are widely sought in commercial fisheries for their flesh and fins which are highly desirable for shark fin soup.
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North Atlantic right whales measure up to 16 metres and weigh up to 70,000kg.
They are no longer legally hunted, but threatened by entanglements in fishing gear and ship strikes off the east coast of North America.
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The Nassau grouper is a warm-water reef fish.
Their distinctive bicolour-pattern is highly valued by commercial and recreational fisheries with overfishing leading to an 80-90% reduction in the population since the 1980s.
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On #WorldOceanDay, read more about marine species that face an extremely high risk of extinction 🌊👇 aje.io/25d5rj
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