Case study · My own project
Ocean Animals
An ocean encyclopedia I built and run myself. It started with my child’s love of sea creatures and grew into 227 species, an interactive dive for kids and a shop that keeps the site free and ad-free.
Owner
Mellor LLC, my own project
Content
227 species in nine groups
Built with
WordPress, Elementor Pro, WooCommerce
For
Curious readers, students and kids
Nine groups, 227 species
A big subject needs a clear way in. Every animal sits in one of nine groups, and each group splits into smaller families.
Sharks
8 families
Ocean Fish
13 families
Cephalopods
4 families
Sea Turtles & Reptiles
5 families
Ocean Mammals
4 families
Seabirds
6 families
Crustaceans & Shellfish
5 families
Rays & Skates
4 families
Invertebrates & Coral
4 families
Plus an A–Z index of every species and a Random Animal button for the curious.
Ocean Animals Kids
A dive built for kids
Ricky the Reef Shark leads kids down through the ocean one zone at a time. Every animal they tap shares a secret and stamps their Explorer Passport.
0 m
The Sunlight Zone
Bright and busy, with a clownfish, a sea turtle, an octopus and a penguin to meet.
200 m
The Twilight Zone
Dim and blue, where some animals make their own light. Home to the coelacanth and the goblin shark.
1,000 m
The Midnight Zone
Pitch black. Kids switch on a flashlight to find who is hiding.
4,000 m
The Abyss
Near freezing on the sea floor, with sea cucumbers and snailfish.
11,000 m
The Mariana Trench
The deepest place on Earth, deep enough to hide Mount Everest. Reaching it earns the First Dive badge.
Games
Memory Match, Who Am I? and Who Lives Where?, which earns the Zone Sorter badge.
Reef Town
An adventure map to explore, with fishing and more stamps to collect.
The submarine
Too dark to swim? Kids hop in with Ricky and use sonar to find hidden animals.
Coloring
Pages to color on screen or print out at home.
What I built
A reference site that works for a curious adult and a young explorer alike.
Safe by design
No ads, ever. Kids never sign up or share personal information, and grown-ups manage the Kids Club pass.
Two ways to find any animal
Browse the nine groups and their families, or jump straight to the A–Z list of all 227 species.
A reason to come back
The Random Animal button opens a different species every time, so there is always something new to read.
A shop that funds the site
Tees, hoodies, caps and mugs, printed on demand. Every order helps keep OceanAnimals.org free and ad-free.
Have a big idea for a site?
Large content libraries, interactive features and online shops are all things I build. Tell me what you have in mind.