Can You Name All of These Sea Animals?

By: Teresa McGlothlin
Estimated Completion Time
4 min
Can You Name All of These Sea Animals?
Image: Michael Zeigler / E+ / Getty Images

About This Quiz

If you can name all 40 of the sea animals in this quiz from a photo, you are probably a marine biologist! With species of marine creatures out there we haven't found yet, it's hard to imagine what some of them will look like. As you'll see in our photos, some of them have a face only a mother could love-and others are cute enough to want to squeeze! How many of them do you think you can name despite their outward appearance?

From porpoises to giant shellfish, the ocean harbors just as much, if not more, animal life than the dry parts of the earth. During this quiz, we are going to show you a photo of some of the more interesting creatures we could find. If you feel like you're stuck in a lifeboat without an oar, just make your best guess! You might be surprised!

Instead of letting you off easy, we've dug up some specific names that we think you'll enjoy identifying. Once you see the tasseled wobbegong, you'll never be able to forget it. Enjoy your voyage around the world's oceans, and be thankful you'll be out of reach of the 10-foot long tentacles of the sea wasp! Will you do as well as you think you will?


Horseshoe crab
Daniela Duncan / Moment / Getty Images
It's not really a crab, but what is it called?
Horseshoe crab
Hermit crab
Atlantic blue crab
Red king crab
Narwhal
Corey Ford/Stocktrek Images / Stocktrek Images / Getty Images
Which name is given to this unicorn of the sea?
Hammerhead shark
Narwhal
Bottle-nosed dolphin
Beluga whale
Harp seal
Tom Brakefield / DigitalVision / Getty Images
Can you seal the deal by identifying this sea animal?
Elephant seal
Harbor seal
Gray seal
Harp seal

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Blue marlin
Wiki Commons by NOAA
Do you know the name of the monster fish you see here?
Goliath grouper
Bluefin tuna
Blue marlin
Common fangtooth
Olive sea snake
Brandi Mueller / Moment Open / Getty Images
This creature takes its name from the color of its skin, but what is it?
Olive sea snake
Laticauda
Yellow-lipped sea krait
Black-banded sea krait
Flatback turtle
Wiki Commons by Purpleturtle57
Are you able to choose the correct name of this type of turtle?
Painted turtle
Loggerhead sea turtle
Flatback turtle
Archelon

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King eider
Mike Powles / Photodisc / Getty Images
What's the name of this colorful Arctic bird?
Kelp gull
Arctic tern
Wandering albatross
King eider
Sand tiger shark
Steve Woods Photography / Cultura / Getty Images
Which of these sharks is also known as the gray nurse shark?
Sand tiger shark
Great white shark
Hammerhead shark
Sawshark
Dugong
Kerstin Meyer / Moment / Getty Images
Can you correctly name the type of sea cow seen in this photo?
West Indian manatee
Dugong
African manatee
Amazonian manatee

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Bluebanded goby
Hal Beral / Corbis / Getty Images
This reef dwelling fish is known by what name?
Clownfish
Bluebanded goby
Discus
Killfish
Geoduck
Wiki Commons by Jeff
It's considered a delicacy, but do you know what it's called?
Sea urchin
Cockle
Periwinkle
Geoduck
Flameback
Youtube via Deep Look
Which kind of sea slug do you see pictured here?
Flameback
Spanish dancer
Blue glaucus
Black sea hare

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Tasseled wobbegong
Ethan Daniels/Stocktrek Images / Getty Images
Are you able to choose the correct name for this flat fish?
Dabs
Tasseled wobbegong
Tonguefish
American sole
Sea cucumber
Joao Inacio / Moment / Getty Images
What name is the correct name for this strange sea animal?
Sea slug
Electric eel
Sea cucumber
Banded krait
Emperor penguin
Paul Souders / DigitalVision / Getty Images
Can you waddle your way to identifying this type of penguin?
Emperor penguin
Gentoo penguin
Galapagos penguin
Adelie penguin

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Atlantic cod
Wiki commons by Peter
Do you know the name of this lobster-loving fish?
Butterflyfish
Sturgeon
Atlantic cod
Wrasse
Spotted eagle ray
James R.D. Scott / Moment / Getty Images
Don't get stung by incorrectly naming this sea animal-what is it?
Pacific angel shark
Box jellyfish
Moon jelly
Spotted eagle ray
Acorn barnacle
Ed Reschke / Stockbyte / Getty Images
Which kind of crustacean do you see here?
Krill
Woodlouse
Acorn barnacle
Prawn

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Chambered Nautilus
FlamingPumpkin / E+ / Getty Images
What name is given to this cephalopod?
Cuttlefish
Chambered nautilus
Giant squid
Cranchildae
Marine otter
Michael Mike L. Baird flickr.bairdphotos.com / Moment Open / Getty Images
Can you correctly name this marine mammal?
Marine otter
Hawaiian monk seal
Walrus
Vaquita
Walrus
David Merron Photography / Moment / Getty Images
What is the name of the pinniped in this photo?
Walrus
True seal
Sealion
Eared seal

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Stonefish
Colin Baker / Moment / Getty Images
Do you know the name of the highly venomous fish you see here?
Stonefish
Pufferfish
John Dory
Pacific angelfish
Stoplight loosejaw
Wiki Commons by NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Which relative of the dragonfish is seen here?
Viperfish
Orca
Stoplight loosejaw
Ahi tuna
Laughing gull
Vicki Jauron, Babylon and Beyond Photography / Moment / Getty Images
This coastal dwelling bird is given what name?
Laughing gull
Albatross
Osprey
Red-footed booby

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Leafy seadragon
Alastair Pollock Photography / Moment / Getty Images
Are you able to identify this organic-looking sea animal?
Leafy seadragon
Red lionfish
Spotted ratfish
Whiptail gulper
Giant triton
Wiki Commons by James St. John
You can make trumpet sounds with its shell, but what is its name?
Giant triton
Chambered nautilus
Sea snail
Cockle
Cushion star
Wiki Commons by Nhobgood
Which name belongs with this blobby ocean animal?
Grooved brain coral
Eccentric sand dollar
Cushion star
Lobe coral

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Bluebottle
Holly Hildreth / Moment / Getty Images
What is the correct name of this siphonophore?
Physalia
Lensia
Bluebottle
Abylidae
Atlantic trumpetfish
Stephen Frink / Image Source / Getty Images
Do you know what this long creature is called?
Atlantic trumpetfish
Oarfish
Pacific blackdragon
Slender snipe eel
Oarfish
Youtube via Animal Wire
It's the largest bony fish in the sea, but what's the right name it?
Atlantic cod
Northern red snapper
Patagonian toothfish
Oarfish

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Hermit crab
With love of photography / Moment / Getty Images
Will you be crabby if you can't identify this sea animal?
Hermit crab
Blue king crab
Horseshoe crab
Fiddler crab
Striped pyjama squid
Wiki Commons by Scubagirl85
Can you pick out the name of this poisonous cephalopod?
Tiger prawn
Dumbo octopus
Striped pyjama squid
Shortfin squid
Sea wasp
Humberto Ramirez / Moment / Getty Images
Its tentacles can reach up to 10 feet long-what is the right name for it?
Sea wasp
Lion's mane jellyfish
Moon jelly
Carpet octopus

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Hourglass dolphin
Wiki Commons by Lomvi2
Do you know the name of this mammal that's sometimes confused with the orca?
Hourglass dolphin
Minke whale
Risso's dolphin
Humpback whale
Vaquita
Wiki Commons by Paula Olson
Which name is the right name for this harbor porpoise?
Finless porpoise
Vaquita
Dall's porpoise
Bottlenose dolphin
Southern giant petrel
Kelly Cheng / Moment / Getty Images
It's funny to watch this bird take off-what name does it have?
Little auk
Southern giant petrel
Kelp gull
Herring gull

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Leatherback turtle
red_moon_rise / E+ / Getty Images
Which name is given to this omnivore?
Leatherback turtle
Hawksbill turtle
Olive Ridley turtle
Hawksbill turtle
Elkhorn coral
Humberto Ramirez / Moment / Getty Images
What name is given to this rare type of coral?
Elkhorn coral
Ivory bush coral
Grooved brain coral
Chilean basket star
Mexican lookdown
Carolyn Hebbard / Moment / Getty Images
Can you correctly name the silver fish swimming here?
Orange roughy
Pink salmon
Mexican lookdown
Summer flounder

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Brown pelican
Rodrigo Friscione / Image Source / Getty Images
It's the symbol of the Gulf of Mexico, but what name is it given?
Osprey
Kelp gull
Least storm petrel
Brown pelican