Does the ocean have memory? Memory describes the ability to ​encode, store, and retrieve information; it is a critical component of experience and can thus affect future outcomes. In this sense, the ocean’s capacity for memory is boundless. This session seeks to explore the concept of ‘memory’ in the context of ocean science to reveal how memory could foster adaptation, evolution and sustainability across habitats / biomes / regions.The field of chemical ecology, for example, offers a plethora of examples of communication and memory, often with the goal of minimizing predation. Multiple examples of memory or memory-like features also exist in the microbial world. This session will highlight these and other relevant examples of ocean memory from across ocean habitats.  This session aims to attract contributions from a broad range of ocean habitats to address ocean memory from the perspective of cognitive tools, e.g. sensing/perception, behavior, learning, anticipation, and communication and then evaluating the ecological and system level impacts of these cognitive functions. We encourage presentation of data sets reflecting a broad range of habitats representing a range of environmental conditions. Novel approaches to assess signal integration – how cognitive tools inform adaptive responses – are needed to fully capture the mechanisms of ocean memory.