That is bad because many marine creatures rely on shells made of calcium carbonate to protect themselves.

ECONOMIST: Global warming

And when that plastic breaks down into tiny little pieces, it is often swallowed by marine creatures and enters the food chain.

CNN: The stark reality of a throw-away society

Some of the loveliest, most magical images plunge beneath the surface to reveal the myriad marine creatures separated from Pi by nothing more than an inch or two of wood.

CNN: Review: 'Life of Pi' is bold and wondrous

As land repeatedly surfaced and receded, the remains of marine creatures got mixed up with those of terrestrials, forming one big Ice Age graveyard: sea cows, prehistoric sharks, spike-tailed armadillos the size of refrigerators.

NEWYORKER: Bones of Contention

Id Software releases Doom, which pits a futuristic space marine against a hellish array of creatures.

FORBES: Never Enough

It can adversely affect forests and crops, and is also linked with damage to plankton, the microscopic creatures at the bottom of the marine food chain.

BBC: By Environment Correspondent Alex Kirby

In so doing, New York and London may have destroyed something far more than a delicious source of protein: oysters are not only among the strangest and tastiest creatures in the sea, but as far as the health of marine ecosystems go, they may also be the most important.

ECONOMIST: A dozen ocean-cleaners and a pint of Guinness, please

By looking at which creatures flourish in their mesocosms, Ulf Riebesell of the Leibniz Institute for Marine Studies in Kiel and his colleagues hope to see changes as they take place by keeping an eye on the water chemistry and nutrient levels.

ECONOMIST: Ocean acidification

Having outlived the dinosaurs -- dating back some 110 million years -- the turtles are also among the most enduring creatures on earth and, biologists say, an important gauge of the health of the marine ecosystem.

CNN: Turtles in race to beat extinction