▲Land-based activities account for 80% of all pollution found in seas and oceans.

(Photo by Master Wen)

▲And 80% of the population lives within 100 km (62 mi) of the coast. Three-quarters of the world’s mega cities are located near the sea.

(Photo by Giancarlo Revolledo)

▲Oceans make up 70% of the Earth’s surface.

(Photo by George Kedenburg III)

▲About 40% of the world's population lives within 60 km (37 mi) of the coast.

(Photo by Jay)

▲The Pacific Ocean covers around 30% of the Earth’s surface, making it the planet's largest ocean.

(Photo by jean wimmerlin)

▲The oceans house more than 90% of the planet’s living biomass.

(Photo by Francisco Jesús Navarro Hernández)

▲About 90% of icebergs are submerged, so what we see is really just the tip.

(Photo by David Clode)

▲After 1,000 m (3,280 ft), the oceans are completely dark.

(Photo by guille pozzi)

▲Sounds travels 4.3 times faster underwater compared to air.

(Photo by Brooks Leibee)

▲The point in the ocean most remote from land is called Point Nemo.

(Photo by Kris Mikael Krister)

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After 10 m (32.8 ft), divers can't see red. After 30 m (98.4 ft), they can't see yellow.

(Photo by Miguel Machado)

▲Light only penetrates about 200 m (656 ft) into the ocean (but illuminates for several more meters).

(Photo by Wynand Uys)

▲Sea ice covers 15% of the oceans.

(Photo by Pablo Martinez)

▲The phenomenon is called global ocean conveyor belt.

(Photo by Pratik Mehta)

▲It takes water 1,000 years to complete a continuous journey around the globe.

(Photo by Tavis Beck)

▲We might not think of the seas when we think travel, but more than 90% of goods traded between countries are transported by sea.

(Photo by Mords Saligumba)

▲Scuba diving is safer than driving, skydiving, and marathon running.

(Photo by Karen Cantú Q)

▲The Great Barrier Reef in Australia can be seen from the moon.

(Photo by Willian Justen de Vasconcellos)

▲Half the oxygen we breathe day in and day out is produced by the oceans.

(Photo by David Clode)

▲The waters of every ocean contains dissolved gold. But don't get your hopes up. It amounts to very little.

(Photo by Anton Darius | @theSollers)

▲Point Nemo is located 2,688 km (1,670 mi) from the nearest islands in the South Pacific Ocean.

(Photo by yang miao)

▲Just 2.5 m (8 ft) of ocean depth holds as much water as the atmosphere.

(Photo by Anastasia Dulgier)

▲The ocean holds 50 times more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere.

(Photo by Alexandra Rose)

▲The ocean is home to 28 major groups of animals versus 11 that live on land.

(Photo by Anton Darius | @theSollers)

▲The average gray whale migrates about 16,000 km (10,000 mi) each year, the longest migration of any mammal.

(Photo by Jeswin Thomas)

▲But one overachiever gray whale traveled 22,511 km (13,988 mi) in 172 days, thus holding the record of the longest known migration of a mammal.

(Photo by Guillaume Bourdages)

▲Coral reefs cover 20% of the ocean floor.

(Photo by Milos Prelevic)

▲Corals are colonies of tiny animals with porous limestone skeletons.

(Photo by Shane Stagner)

▲Flounder can use its camouflage to hide on a checkerboard.

(Photo by Shane Stagner)

▲Corals reefs house 25% of all marine life, so don't step on them!

(Photo by Ray Aucott)

▲Humans have only mapped about 5% of the ocean floor in detail.

(Photo by David Clode)

▲Hákarl, a national delicacy of Iceland, is the product of allowing the antifreeze toxins in sharks to rot through fermentation. It's definitely an acquired taste and not for the faint of heart.

(Photo by Shaun Low)

▲We know of 230,000 marine species, but more than two million is estimated to exist. We haven't even scratched the surface.

(Photo by Cristian Palmer)

▲The pressure in the Mariana Trench is 8 metric tons, a thousand times the atmospheric pressure at sea level.

(Photo by David Clode)

▲If we combine the length of all mid-ocean ridges, we'd have enough to circle Earth twice over.

(Photo by David Clode)

▲The largest underwater cliffs are located in the Bahamas, with sheer drops of up to 4,000 m (13,100 ft).

(Photo by Anthony Rao)

▲Some Antarctic species have natural antifreeze in their blood to prevent it from freezing.

(Photo by Francisco Jesús Navarro Hernández)

▲The deepest depth currently known, the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, is 11 km (6.8 mi). Mount Everest is 8.8 km (5.5 mi).

(Photo by Ravi Shekhar)

▲The temperature in the Mariana Trench ranges between -1ºC (30ºF) and 4ºC (39ºF).

(Photo by David Clode)

▲A swallow of seawater may contain millions of bacterial cells, hundreds of thousands of phytoplankton, and tens of thousands of zooplankton.

(Photo by Jong Marshes)

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The sea is a mega museum, holding more artifacts and remnants of history than all of the world’s museums combined.

(Photo by Vlad Tchompalov)

▲Some species of deep-sea corals can be found at 6,000 m (19,685 ft) in waters as cold as 2ºC (35ºF).

(Photo by Jared Poledna)

▲More than half of the global fish catch is done by fishermen and women operating at a small-scale, local level.

(Photo by Lance Anderson)

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All life begins with water. Our oceans provide the pulse that keeps the Earth's heart beating and our ways of being alive. Its depths are also among the least explored and understood ecosystems on the planet. But what we do know is filled with wonders, colors, and beauty.

Click through the gallery and take a virtual tour of an underwater spectacle paired with awesome facts about the oceans.

(Photo by Robert Claypool)