Note: This post is part of our "Netflix Academy: The best educational videos available for streaming" series. Be sure to check out our previous Netflix Academy posts on dinosaurs and the American founders.
We’re three weeks into our series on educational videos available to stream from Netflix or Amazon. Already one thing is clear: Content on science is a whole lot easier to find than good stuff on history, at least for the elementary school students who are my focus.
So it is with streaming videos on aquatic life (no pun intended!), with a lot of great choices for families.
Best videos on aquatic life available for streaming
1. Oceans
Dive into Oceans from Disneynature, the studio that brought you Earth, for a spectacular story about remarkable creatures under the sea. Stunning images await as you journey into the depths of a wonderland filled with mystery, beauty, and power.
Length: 85 minutes
Rating: G
2. The Blue Planet: A Natural History of the Oceans
David Attenborough narrates this definitive exploration of the marine world, from the familiar to the unknown, revealing the sea and its communities at their most fearsome and alluring.
Length: Eight 45-minute episodes
Rating: TV-G
3. Planet Earth, "Ocean Deep"
The lives of animals and plants are dominated by the sun and fresh water, which trigger seasonal journeys. The latest technology and aerial photography enable the Planet Earth team to track some of the greatest mass migrations.
Length: 50 minutes
Rating: TV-G
4. “Ocean Realm” (National Geographic: Amazing Planet)
National Geographic investigates the awesome power of our water world by journeying into the mind-bending beauty of coral-reef shallows to the deepest depths of the Mariana Trench, while glimpsing everything in between.
Length: 45 minutes
Rating: TV-PG
5. Turtle: The Incredible Journey
Attempting a perilous odyssey its ancestors have undertaken for millions of years, one loggerhead turtle swims from a beach in Florida across the Atlantic Ocean, encountering stunning sea creatures as well as serious hazards created by modern man.
Length: 69 minutes
Rating: G
6. National Geographic: Shark Superhighway
National Geographic explores the evolution and behavior of the hammerhead shark, a bizarre-looking, endangered species that first emerged around twenty million years ago and is capable of traveling and navigating great distances. Scientists believe that the key to ensuring the hammerhead's survival may lie in understanding how the sharks live and survive along their "superhighway" routes, as well as the function of their distinct shape.
Length: 50 minutes
Rating: TV-PG
7. Amazing Ocean
This fantastic journey through the magic of the deep blue sea is a breathtakingly beautiful experience for your whole family.
Length: 50 minutes
Rating: NR
8. Search for the Great Sharks: IMAX
Journey around the world on an expedition to discover some of the planet's most majestic and notorious creatures: sharks. From the coast of California to the beaches of Australia, this IMAX documentary offers an up-close view of the undisputed kings of the deep, including the blue shark, the whale shark, and the most-feared shark of them all—the great white. This film reveals these oft-misunderstood animals to be frighteningly beautiful.
Length: 37 minutes
Rating: NR
9. Discover Planet Ocean
Discover what it takes for thousands of incredible and bizarre creatures to survive in the ocean, which comprises 99 percent of Earth's living space. Most of the ocean is dark as night, with extreme temperatures—but it's neither quiet nor empty.
Length: Thirteen 45-minute episodes
Rating: TV-PG
10. Dolphin Adventures
A “close encounters of the aquatic kind,” this classic film documents the first recorded human–wild dolphin encounter in modern times.
Length: 59 minutes
Rating: NR
