Ocean Life Jeopardy

Ocean zones, coral reefs, whales, and tides in a marine life review for upper elementary and middle school. The board is free, and students buzz in by phone.

6 categories · 30 clues · Final Jeopardy · everyone buzzes in from their phone

For the classroom

Copies all 30 clues into an editor of your own. Free, no account needed.

Every clue on this board

This page is public, so anyone can read the answers — copy the board and swap a few clues before game day.

Ocean Zones

$200
This top layer of the ocean gets the most light, and most ocean life lives in it.
What is the sunlight zone?
$400
Only dim light reaches this middle layer, from about 200 to 1,000 meters deep.
What is the twilight zone?
$600
Below about 1,000 meters, no sunlight reaches this dark zone, named for a time of night.
What is the midnight zone?
$800
Ocean plants and algae live only near the surface because they need sunlight for this food-making process.
What is photosynthesis?
$1,000
The deepest known point in any ocean lies in this trench in the western Pacific.
What is the Mariana Trench?

Coral Reefs

$200
This orange-and-white fish lives safely among the stinging tentacles of sea anemones.
What is a clownfish?
$400
The world's largest coral reef system, the Great Barrier Reef, lies off the coast of this country.
What is Australia?
$600
A coral is made of many tiny animals called these, which build hard limestone skeletons.
What are polyps?
$800
When the water gets too warm, stressed corals push out their colorful algae and turn white in this process.
What is coral bleaching?
$1,000
Corals and the algae living inside them both benefit from their partnership, the kind of symbiosis called this.
What is mutualism?

Sharks and Rays

$200
This shark has a wide, flat head with an eye at each end.
What is a hammerhead shark?
$400
This flat ray has a sharp, venomous spine on its tail.
What is a stingray?
$600
This gentle giant that filters plankton from the water is the largest fish in the world.
What is the whale shark?
$800
Instead of bone, sharks and rays have skeletons made of this bendable material, also found in your nose and ears.
What is cartilage?
$1,000
The largest ray, this plankton eater can have a wingspan of about 7 meters.
What is a manta ray?

Marine Mammals

$200
Whales and dolphins breathe air through this opening on the top of the head.
What is a blowhole?
$400
This furry marine mammal floats on its back and uses rocks to crack open shellfish.
What is a sea otter?
$600
This Arctic whale with a long, spiral tusk is sometimes called the unicorn of the sea.
What is a narwhal?
$800
Slow-moving manatees that graze on sea grass are nicknamed these farm animals of the sea.
What are sea cows?
$1,000
Fish swing their tails from side to side, but whales and dolphins move their tails in this direction.
What is up and down?

Deep-Sea Creatures

$200
This deep-sea fish dangles a glowing lure from its head to attract prey in the dark.
What is an anglerfish?
$400
Many deep-sea animals make their own light, an ability called this.
What is bioluminescence?
$600
Named for a flying cartoon elephant, this deep-sea octopus has ear-like fins on its head.
What is the dumbo octopus?
$800
Heavier than the giant squid, this Antarctic squid has the largest eyes of any known animal.
What is the colossal squid?
$1,000
At hydrothermal vents, bacteria make food from chemicals instead of sunlight in this process.
What is chemosynthesis?

Tides and Currents

$200
Twice a day on most coasts, the ocean rises to this, its highest level.
What is high tide?
$400
Ocean tides are caused mostly by the pull of this body's gravity.
What is the Moon?
$600
This warm Atlantic current flows from Florida up the US East Coast and across toward Europe.
What is the Gulf Stream?
$800
The biggest difference between the ocean's highest and lowest levels comes during full and new moons, in these tides.
What are spring tides?
$1,000
The smallest difference between the ocean's highest and lowest levels comes at quarter moons, in these tides.
What are neap tides?

Final Jeopardy — Ocean Giant

The largest animal known to have ever lived, it feeds almost entirely on tiny shrimp-like animals called krill.

What is the blue whale?

How to run this board

This board dives from the sunlit surface to the deep sea: the ocean's layers and what can live in each, coral reefs and the creatures that depend on them, sharks, whales, and other giants, the odd adaptations of deep-sea animals, and how tides and currents move water.

Students often assume every big sea animal is a fish, so the marine mammals clues make a good pause point: ask how a whale breathes, and let the class sort the rest of the column with that in mind.

Teams of three or four work well. Give each team one buzzer phone and rotate who holds it after each clue so everyone gets a turn at the pressure.

More from the library

Spotted a clue that's wrong or out of date? Tell us and we'll fix the board. Or start from a blank board and write your own.