Marine biodiversity of Europe

Europe's marine biodiversity provides a vast but fragile resource of great significance to its people. Europe has the longest coastline of all continents relative to its surface area and has seas covering millions of square kilometres. Europe's oceans are home to tens of thousands of species of microbes, plants and animals.

The marine biodiversity of Europe covers a broad range of climate zones from arctic to subtropical, and diverse geographic sea regions, including the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, Baltic, Black and North Sea regions. Europe's marine biodiversity also represented a number of distinct ecosystems, including the deep sea, open oceans and coastal, estuarine and intertidal waters. Click on the links below for further details.

Geographical variation
Ecosystem variation