The 'big picture' of the oceans in the world.

Today, there is a tool to generate scientific maps about the life in the oceans: OBIS: Ocean Biogeographic Information System. It is now part of the Intergovernamental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.

OBIS aims to absorb, integrate and assess isolated datasets into larger pictures of the biological life in the marine world.

It provides a portal/gateway to datasets containing information on where and when marine species have been recorded.

Here is a visual summary about recorded species. To search data: here.