Not every ocean animal is quick like a shark or dolphin. Some actually move extremely slow! But there is nothing boring about these animals! In fact, many of the slowest marine animals are unique, beautiful and peaceful. Watching them can be relaxing, and almost calming, like watching waves roll in.
Let’s dive into the 15 slowest marine animals. Although these animals take the longest to get from point A to B, they still have made it into our hearts!
1. Seahorse
Seahorses are the most sluggish swimmers in the ocean, barely moving at around 5 feet per hour. This would compare to watching a leaf floating in calm water, and they hardly ever move that fast. Seahorses swim with small fins on their head (which are hard to see) and with their dorsal fins (the fin on their back); swimming is not very efficient for them. Seahorses usually hang on to seaweed or coral with their tail to not drift too far away.
Despite their sluggishness, they are remarkable! Everything about their small size, horse-shaped head, and dainty swimming make them one of the best-loved animal in the ocean.
2. Sea Cucumber
Sea cucumbers don’t even have brains and crawl at about 2 inches per minute! Hardly faster than a toddler walking!
Sea cucumbers are soft, tube-shaped creatures that live along the ocean floor. They play an important role by eating waste materials at the bottom of oceans and are considered to be ocean clean-up crews. They may not have a lot to look at, but they help the underwater world be healthy.
3. Starfish
Starfish (or sea stars) move at about 0.02 mph, basically crawling. They move with little, tube-like feet on the underside of their body to quiet a gait. Thus they appear to glide along rocks and sand and then they are usually very colorful.
They move at their very own leisurely pace, glide gracefully and are in many different shapes and colors, which when moving under the water makes them a living water dance.
4. Green Sea Turtle
Though sea turtles have the ability to swim quickly when they want to, they usually prefer to cruise along at a much slower pace. Green sea turtles are well known for cruising at about 0.3 mph. When they’re out in the ocean, they take the same leisurely route that we take when walking along the beach.
They look so calm and wise. Watching them swim slowly past you feels like watching a piece of living history.
5. Sea Anemone
Sea anemones look like colorful flowers of the ocean. They mostly don’t move at all and, for the most part, remain stationary waiting for food to come near.
When sea anemones do move, it is at a speed of about a few inches per hour. They may be slow-moving, but their beautiful tentacles provide stunning color for the sea floor.
6. Clam
Clams are also a group of animals that are known for their ability to stay still. Clams are hard animals that live inside a shell, so they don’t often move at all. A few clams can slide through the sand by using a foot-like muscle, but it isn’t something they do very often.
Clams are also one of the slowest marine animals because they don’t have a place to go. Life is quite simple and still for them.
7. Feather Star
Feather stars may look like plants with feathers attached, but they are animals. They can have lots of arms; they will use them to slowly swim or walk. Not fast, it is more like floating slowly in style.
When they rest, they attach to a rock or coral like a slippery snail and hang making an appearance of odd seaweeds waving their arms waiting for food. When they do swim, it looks like a slow-motion ballet.
8. Sea Slug
Sea slugs, or nudibranchs, are also slow, and beautiful. Their slow and often sluggish way across coral or rock is often a few inches in a minute.
Sea slugs do not make up for their slowness with speed but they do make up for it in amazing colour. Some are no bigger than one inch and look like little rainbows. They have a variety of bright and beautiful colour patterns that excite the eye. Watching these animals swim is a lot like watching art move.
9. Mussel
Mussels are another marine animal that display little movement. Most mussels attach to a rock, with other mussel, rock or surface. Some mussels use a foot muscle to slowly move, but generally they stay in one location.
Mussels do filter a lot of water, and they are extremely important to the ocean’s health. They do not make much movement, but they do a lot for the ocean by cleaning the sea.
10. Barnacle
Barnacles are like little creatures that attach to everything, boats, rocks, other animals such as whales or sea turtles. When they find their home and fasten on they usually do not move.
They sit and wait for very little food to float by in the water. While they have a very stuck life-cycle, they do very well, and that has been the case for millions of years. Sometimes, slow and steady wins the race.
11. Crinoid
Crinoids are also referred to as “sea lilies.” They resemble flowers with long arms. They can move somewhat slowly by utilizing their stem or arms, but mostly they remain stationary.
These animals are ancient. They have been living in the ocean since before the dinosaurs! Their slow lifestyle has allowed them to survive for millions of years.
12. Sponges
Sponges do not move once they become attached. We are not referring to bath sponges but real sea sponges!
They are weird looking and resemble rocks or plants, but they are animals. They remain still and pump water through their bodies, filtering it for food. They are slow, quiet, and beneficial.
13. Sea Pen
Sea pens are coral-like animals that are soft and remain on the seabed. They glow calmly in the dark water, similar to a night light in the sea.
Sea pens can move somewhat slowly and deflate a bit or rotate slightly in the sand, but, for the most part, they do not move. Sea pens glow so beautifully that they resemble something out of a dream.
14. Jellyfish
Jellyfish are not all fast. Some species, in fact, drift with the current so slowly, that they seem to be still or barely moving on their own.
Watching jellyfish drift can be entrancing. Their soft, pulsing bodies and gentle motions can almost make you feel drowsy (in a good way). They ask you to slow down.
15. Sea Snail
Sea snails slowly move over the sea floor, or on the rocks of coral, using a muscular foot. They are wet snails!
Sea snails have spiral shells that provide some level of protection from predators. Although they are slow, they reach points where they want or need to go. Watching a sea snail slowly cover a rock or coral is oddly pleasant to observe.
