Southern Ocean

Statistics

Occurrence records 2,376,861
Species level 1,892,135
Species 8,336
Taxa 12,741
Datasets 458
Time range 1831 - 2025

Data quality

Dropped records

Dropped records 0
Not marine 3,621
No WoRMS match 93,825
No coordinates 0
Zero coordinates 0

Taxonomic issues

Marine unsure 14,211
No accepted name available 23,298

Missing and invalid fields

Field Missing Invalid
coordinateUncertaintyInMeters 1,750,656 13,230
eventDate 199,406 0
maximumDepthInMeters 1,528,419 627
minimumDepthInMeters 1,528,630 173
occurrenceStatus 1,529,201 0
scientificName 4,910 0
scientificNameID 182,728 7,534

Spatial issues

Records on land 104,776
More than 20 km from shore 1,255
Depth exceeds bathymetric depth 28,584

Distribution

Disclaimer: EEZ boundaries based on Marine Regions (no endorsement).

Records

Composition

detailed (class) simple

Top taxa

Unique species IUCN Red List All taxa
Scientific name Records
Mirounga leonina (Linnaeus, 1758)
Phylum Chordata > Class Mammalia
414,360
Leptonychotes weddellii (Lesson, 1826)
Phylum Chordata > Class Mammalia
344,441
Pygoscelis adeliae (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841)
Phylum Chordata > Class Aves
184,267
Lobodon carcinophagus (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1842)
Phylum Chordata > Class Mammalia
140,363
Aptenodytes forsteri Gray, 1844 NT
Phylum Chordata > Class Aves
102,744
Euphausia superba Dana, 1850
Phylum Arthropoda > Class Malacostraca
79,617
Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781)
Phylum Chordata > Class Mammalia
56,475
Alphaproteobacteria
Phylum Proteobacteria > Class Alphaproteobacteria
43,637
Arctocephalus gazella (Peters, 1875)
Phylum Chordata > Class Mammalia
39,006
Thalassoica antarctica (Gmelin, 1789)
Phylum Chordata > Class Aves
37,332

Newest species

Scientific name Records Since
Ziphius cavirostris Cuvier, 1823
Phylum Chordata > Class Mammalia
4 2024
Acutiserolis gerlachei (Monod, 1925)
Phylum Arthropoda > Class Malacostraca
2 2023
Diastylopsis annulata (Zimmer, 1902)
Phylum Arthropoda > Class Malacostraca
1 2023
Eudorella similis Calman, 1907
Phylum Arthropoda > Class Malacostraca
1 2023
Sandalomenia carinata Thiele, 1913
Phylum Mollusca > Class Solenogastres
1 2023
Sandalomenia papilligera Thiele, 1913
Phylum Mollusca > Class Solenogastres
1 2023
Prosipho bisculptus Thiele, 1912
Phylum Mollusca > Class Gastropoda
1 2023
Anthothoe chilensis (Lesson, 1830)
Phylum Cnidaria > Class Hexacorallia
8 2022
Ulva prolifera O.F.Müller, 1778
Phylum Chlorophyta > Class Ulvophyceae
157 2021
Aulacomya atra (Molina, 1782)
Phylum Mollusca > Class Bivalvia
33 2021