A coral reef near the Hawaiian islands is an example of a complex marine ecosystem. Coral reefs are Aragonite structures produced by living organisms found in marine waters with little to no nutrients in the water The Hawaiian Islands, once known as the Sandwich Islands, form an Archipelago of 19 Islands and Atolls numerous smaller

Marine ecosystems are part of the earth's aquatic ecosystem. An aquatic ecosystem is an Ecosystem located in water bodies. They include oceans, estuaries, salt marshes, lagoons, some tropical ecosystems, such as mangrove forests and coral reefs, rocky, subtidal ecosystems, and shores. An ocean (from Greek, ''Okeanos'' (Oceanus) is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the Hydrosphere. An estuary is a semi-enclosed Coastal body of Water with one or more Rivers or Streams flowing into it and with a free connection to the open A salt marsh is a type of Marsh that is a transitional intertidal between land and salty or Brackish water (e A lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow salt or Brackish water separated from the deeper Sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank, coral Mangroves (generally are Trees and Shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats in the Tropics and Subtropics. Corals are Marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small Sea anemone –like Polyps typically in colonies of many In nautical terminology a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water (six fathoms or less at low water A shore or shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water such as an Ocean, Sea, or Lake. The main difference between this and other aquatic ecosystems is its salt content larger than that of fresh water. Salt is a Dietary mineral composed primarily of Sodium chloride that is essential for Animal life but toxic to most land plants Freshwater is a word that refers to bodies of water such as Ponds lakes rivers and streams containing low concentrations of dissolved Salts and other Total dissolved

See also

• Marine biology

References

• http://www.epa.gov/bioiweb1/aquatic/marine.html